Unwavering Sky
by Kur0Kishi
Summary: He had long since given up. Or to be more precise, he just found it hard to care. He only had his job, his burden and his duty to keep him going. Smiling was a task, a necessity. Not a luxury. This is a story of a man, learning how to see in colours again.
1. Of Lost Lambs and Frying Pans

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 1**

**Of Lost Lambs and Frying Pans  
**

**Disclaimer : Don't own anything. No, seriously. XD**

Woots, 23 hours to assignment deadline, not a single word even written down yet, and here I am screwing around with a new story. I am so going to fail this semester. Which will cause me to quit fan fiction entirely cos I'd have to find work without graduating.

My gawd. D:

**Soundtrack List **

**Ayumi Hamasaki - Missunderstood**

******Unwavering Sky******

A man with spiky silver hair dressed in a shabby suit, a medical eye patch covering one eye, and a face mask jerked out of his bored stupor as the plane landed with a jolt.

A chubby man who was sweating bullets next to him laughed shakily and patted the silver haired man's shoulders a little too enthusiastically, "Ahaha, are you ok boy? Don't let it get to you, ahh... I remember when I was young like you..."

Suppressing a long suffering sigh so that he didn't at least appear overtly rude, he slowly rubbed his one visible eye and responded with noncommittal nods and grunts to the unending flow of words. A skill that he had apparently perfected over the last 13, sleep deprived hours filled with painful boredom and the grating sound of the chubby man's high pitched voice drilling into his ears.

He'd like to say he handled the situation with composure and pose befitting someone of his age; but high tailing it out of the plane the moment the seat belt sign turned off probably didn't count.

Breathing out a powerful sigh of relief, he stretched, hearing the bones in his spine pop with satisfaction. One sleepy looking eye turned upwards towards the heavens, "Same as usual huh..." heaving another gusty sigh, he picked up his luggage and started moving towards the ridiculously long line that seemed to begin from the immigration counter even as a multitude of people rushed past him.

Holding his thumb and pointer finger together, the man pinched the bridge of his nose to rest his tired eyes, or eye as the case may be.

The silver haired man stood in line for hours, silently watching the line dwindle at an outrageously slow pace with disaffected indifference. It was a strange feeling, but not one he was a stranger to; the commotion of the airport droning all around him, the hustle, swearing voices, happy faces or sad faces. He always felt dissonantly separated from them; walking as part of the crowd, and yet isolated from them.

"Uhm... Sir? I'm sorry but it's your turn now." An expectant voice from the man behind the counter broke his day dreaming.

Startled out of his reverie, the silver haired man ran one hand through his spiky hair with an apologetic eye smile, "Yo. Gomen, gomen. He handed the bland looking man in a grey suit with a fake looking, accommodating smile, his passport and some ID. As the man received the documents with an clearly fake smile, the one eyed man lazily glanced at the dark grey clouds hanging outside the line of thick glass.

Even the sun looked grey.

His one visible turned back to the man at the counter and he patiently waited for the all green, his only concern at the moment was finding a place to stay for the night and leaving the tiresome hustle and bustle behind for a nice cold cup of sake.

His mundane thoughts were chased away as the young official looked up with a twitch, "Your name sir?"

"Hatake Kakashi."

The accommodating smile stretched even further, as if the airport official was bracing himself for some sort of unpleasantness, "Everything looks in order sir; we just need you to step aside for a moment."

One eye sleepily blinked, "Un? Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, it's just a part of our new policies; we now require all incoming passengers to be screened. Health problems you see." The brown haired man scratched the back of his head apologetically as he patted some sort of contraption that the silver haired man had never seen before, "That's why the queue is so long today."

"Maa. It's alright. Let's just get this done with shall we?" He leaned in with a conspiratorial smile behind the face mask, "I'm sure you want to get out of here as fast as I do."

The airport official graced with a wry, but real smile this time, "Don't I know it." Coughing slightly, he reassumed the slightly pretentious tone that almost all officials were required to learn upon graduation from Politician School, "Please put your thumb on that small screen, breath onto that clear receptor and look into this scope for a moment."

"Ah..." The spiky haired man slowly did as requested, "This looks interesting." Kakashi drawled with his one eye stuck to the scope.

"It's a machine that was just rolled out recently and patented by MBI. Since MBI has significant investments in New Tokyo Airport, they are including this as part of our safety policies. It's still in the trial stage though," the official replied distractedly as he began typing in instructions behind the counter, "It's supposed to scan your retina, DNA and thumbprints, then cross reference it against a database of known criminals, not that we're implying you are one sir. At the same time, it takes your temperature and vitals to check for any diseases of any sort. Pretty nifty huh, the things MBI come up with nowadays."

No wonder he looked so harassed, he probably had more than one passenger go off on him before this, especially considering the privacy issue and all round hassle. Luckily he was as laid back as they came.

"Mmm... How long am I supposed to stay like this by the way?"

"Ah, it's ok now. You can step back; we just need to wait for the results."

Nodding, the silver haired man stood back in a bored pose with one hand in his pocket, cursing himself for not at least having the wisdom to bring any reading material. Offhandedly, he noticed the official's smile get stiffer and stiffer as every second passed. He internally concluded that the machine wasn't supposed to take this long to give a result.

Naturally, considering how crappy the entire day had been so far, Kakashi cursed himself for even hoping that he would be able to get some sleep before the day ended.

As if it some malignant divine being could see his thoughts, the machine began to emit a series of shrill chirping noises.

The grey haired man chuckled humourlessly, "I'm guessing it was supposed to start singing instead of beeping?"

The man behind the desk glanced at the scarecrow with one hand in his pocket, then at his passport, then the machine's display. He looked at it closely, and then sighed the sigh of a man who had been forced to put up with far too many shrill chirping noises.

"Something like that." The official replied with a wry grimace, "Could you please come with us? I'm sure it's just the machine malfunctioning... again, if I might add, but its policy."

The man bowed again, and when a security agent stepped up he too bowed. The security personnel looked almost as hassled as the clerk did. As the two men, dressed in gray led the masked man to the door that he had seen so many other passengers go through over the last half hour or so, he could make out the faces of the family that had been standing behind him. A young man and what Kakashi assumed was his wife and child looked very grateful that the shabbily dressed man had had the decency to at least be quick instead of making a fuss like many of the previous passengers.

Sighing once more, the man in the threadbare suit followed the two uniformed men down a grey corridor, with an absolutely bored look on his face, resigning himself to at least another hour of waiting.

Several hours, 3 cups of lukewarm beverages and a small meal of curry rice later, Kakashi revised his earlier opinion. It wasn't a bad day.

It was REALLY bad day.

He wondered why it was taking so long as he looked around the small room, with a wall of reflective glass taking up the entirety of one wall, he ran his hand for the umpteenth time through his hair, paying no attention to the small gray television in a corner spewing random advertisements and upbeat sounding tunes and wondering if someone upstairs hated him at the moment.

Behind the glass wall however, a quiet but intense discussion was being held.

"Status." A silver haired woman curtly demanded from the harassed looking security guard.

"He's a tough nut to crack. We kept in there as you asked, but he hasn't moved from his spot other than to get a few drinks. He doesn't even look worried at all, in fact, he hasn't even changed his facial expression. He just keeps watching the wall with this vacant look on his face. Are you sure there's something wrong?"

Slapping the clipboard in her hand, the grey haired woman stormed into the room, disregarding the security guard's protests.

As she did so, she noted that the man's expression finally showed a hint of annoyance for the first time in hours as she banged the table with her clipboard in a belligerent manner,"Who are you?"

He slowly blinked at the blood stained woman who had just burst into the room, looking like a storm cloud and had the gall to demand something from him in an entirely too offensive tone, "Not grumpy enough to forget my manners?" The man in the chair replied snidely.

"I have no time for games," The woman hissed angrily, "Now, who are you?"

"I'm fairly sure that my name is already written on that clipboard you are currently using as a percussion instrument, but let me humor you," he replied in an exasperated manner, as if answering a particularly stupid child, "My name is Kakashi Hatake and my ass is sore."

She was Asian, that much he could tell. Tall, slender, and her hair was a pale grey white, with tired wrinkles under a stormy grey eye that was currently burning with accusation in them while her other eye was obscured by gauze wrapped around her head.

The flimsy plastic ID that was clipped to her lab coat identified the woman as one Sahashi Takami. That would have been weird but not entirely impossible, had it not been for the fact that her wardrobe was splattered by liberal amounts of fresh blood that stung the man's nose.

Behind her, an equally tired looking security guard, the one that had escorted him here, entered with a serious look on his face.

"I am not in the mood for games right now. Your documents are all legitimate, but no matter what we did, your retinal scans and DNA could not be scanned and filed, not to mention your thumbprints belong to a man who supposedly died 50 years ago." She slammed a clipboard on the table punctuating each word with a loud bang, "Who. Are. You?! Which company paid you to do this stupid stunt and how did they manage to stop us from scanning your DNA and retina?"

That was when the spiky haired man realized he may have had made a mistake by being so nonchalant and carefree, years of absolutely nothing to do or beware off tended to do that to a person he noticed, however he kept his composure easily and replied in a nonplussed tone, "Excuse me? I told you, I am Kakashi Hatake. I do not know what the problem is, but whatever it is, it's obviously on your side since my documents are obviously legit. You **cannot** blame me if your equipment is faulty."

He slowly stood up to tower over the woman, deciding to discard the genial facade entirely in an effort to make intimidate his accuser into letting him go before things could get any worse, "Now are you going to apologize? And how are you going to compensate me the three hours I have wasted in this stupid room?"

He fully expected the woman to back down since he knew he had done nothing wrong. Except lose track of which face to use but that was beside the point.

Naturally, his expectations greatly fell short as the woman pressed a button of some sort under her sleeve, "If you think you can get away by intimidating me, I hope you understand how much trouble you are in at the moment."

His single visible eye narrowed as the two one eyed individuals glared at each other, "Is that a threat? You can't keep me here and you know it."

The moment the door opened, the man couldn't help but face palm as he realized his day was about to get far worse as he smelt something he was, regrettably, intimately familiar with.

The overwhelming stench of death seemed to trail behind a gray haired woman with one hand casually placed on the hilt of a sheathed nodachi at her waist. Her skin tight gray uniform certainly did her lean, athletic curves justice and the tight skirt showed off her long legs like nothing else. Kakashi woukld have been quite taken by her beauty had it not been for her pinched and haggard expression along with her predator like stance.

Unfortunately, he had no chance to admire those legs as the moment the woman's eyes landed on him, her pupils dilated instantly and she smiled ferally. Kakashi's one eye widened incredulously as the unprovoked woman suddenly rushed forward with a challenging scream, drawing the blade with a smooth and sharp move. Her sudden dash caught the gray haired man off guard, not because of her sudden actions, but because of her speed; speed that he hadn't seen in centuries. The sharp steel glinted dangerously in the air as the woman swung it in an attempt to bisect him as he backpedalled, avoiding the blade that swished dangerously close to his chest. Unsatisfied, the woman in the black uniform flowed into a crouch and pushed off, thrusting the blade at him like a spear being shot from a canon.

"Karasuba! NO!"

Judging by the split second look he managed to get of Takami's chagrined visage as he narrowly avoided being bisected in half, she obviously hadn't expected the other woman to go berserk at all. The blade halted for a split second, hanging in the tense air between all four of them as the order apparently tried and failed to tunnel its way through into the berserk woman's consciousness before continuing its attempt to slide between his ribs.

Without any time to reconsider, he felt his long unused survival instincts jump start. He felt his body twist, narrowly avoiding the sharp thrust before swiftly flowing from a spin into a low kick that swept his attacker's legs out from under her with one low kick before palming her shocked face while her body hung limply in mid air and driving her skull straight through the nearest wall.

**[BOOM!]**

Takami watched wide eyed as the man somehow moved faster than she could see. From her perspective, one moment the lazy, shabbily dressed looking man who had just backed into a corner, looking annoyed, rather than fearful, suddenly disappeared before a loud crash echoed in the room, along with a flood of dust, shattered cement and plaster that obscured everything and pushed her back a few steps. Shielding her face, she tried to peer through the dust, and started wondering if she had fallen asleep in the lab or something.

The shabbily dressed man was patting away the dust, plaster and cement from his suit, seemingly uninjured save a small blade cut on his masked cheek and **THE** Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, had the entire upper half of her body shoved through a wall, with only her butt and kicking legs showing and judging by the muffled, rather colorful language coming from the wall, decidedly unhappy.

"Oops. My bad... Overreacted. Just a little."

"Be-Benitsubasa! Haihane!"

Grimacing, the gray haired man faded away like a ghost, only to reappear behind a dazed Takami and chop her neck but the damage was already done, and he could feel two more... whatever they were, smelling like they regularly bathed in blood, approaching his location with extreme speed. Catching her body as she slumped forward, he lowered her down carefully before turning back towards the security guard, only to find him already passed out with a puddle between his legs.

The two remaining members of the Disciplinary Squad arrived in time to see one black eye watching them as it slowly faded away and a disembodied voice cursing. Then reality kicked back in and they gaped at the scene of carnage before them.

The sound of someone cursing her mouth off alerted them to the fact that their leader was still conscious and was apparently trying to break her way out of the... wall?

"Wha-what **happened** here?"

"What is that **smell**?"

******Unwavering Sky******

One solitary black eye roved the empty streets from a desolate alley outside the airport before quietly retreating into the darkness where one black iris turned into two blue ones as their owner slumped down against a dirty, moldy wall and began to take stock of his situation.

"Damn, damn, damn. This day can't get any worse. No clothes, no supplies, no money, no ID, and being hunted by some sort of weird... things." He scratched his blonde no-longer-gray hair furiously, "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why, oh, **WHY **did I get so careless?!"

Not getting any answers like he expected, the blonde stopped berating himself and wearily stood up, his mind was already considering the backup plans he had made just in case he was ever held hostage by a high strung scientist and her alluring bodyguard.

Just then, lightning cracked violently in the skies above him, and he blankly stared at the gray stormy skies. Another crack reverberated through the entire city, and as if it had been a signal, the heavens themselves opened and it began to rain, drenching the blue eyed blonde almost instantly.

"You have **GOT **to be kidding me." Giving one last sigh, he shrugged off his suit and chucked it over his shoulder, "Guess I don't have a choice." He grumbled and began heading north, ignoring the rain that battered his body and head, taking care to avoid any major streets or cameras, as the rain muted any sound or smell.

Before long, the alley came to an end, and the blonde carefully leapt across the drains, heading north towards where he remembered his old house was.

Shaking the water out of his lashes, Naruto carefully crept through the bustling streets until he came to a park. Thanking God for the meagre camouflage and shelter, he immediately leapt into the thick brush and made his way through the upper layers of leafy trees.

Everything was a wet, blurry grey to the blonde as he carefully leapt from tree to tree, cutting a windy path through the path, careful to avoid even the smallest hint of life, because he was quite simply too tired to even bother anymore.

Naturally, the moment, he jumped down from a tree that signalled the end of the trees lining the centre of a park, he found himself right in the middle of another confrontation. Standing in front of him in the rain were three people, all shadowed by the glare of a large limousine, obscuring much of what Naruto could see of them.

Shielding his eyes from the car's headlights, he carefully looked at the three people who were staring at him in the middle of a park; he internally wondered if whoever was supposed to be watching over him upstairs was currently taking an extended toilet break.

"Who is that?" a short boy, dressed in an impeccable white suit seemed to ask his taller companion, a neatly dressed man that smelt like earth drenched in blood, a katana already drawn in one hand and an umbrella in the other, professionally edging over to shield his smaller charge with his body. The third member of their triage watched the proceedings discompassionately despite being dressed in nothing but a rain soaked, blood splattered and overly large t-shirt that did absolutely nothing whatsoever to hide her generous assets. Not that it was going to help much anyway, considering the rather... transparent state it was in.

The man's pupils dilated, causing Naruto to tense, but it seemed like something was finally going right for him when the tall man forcibly calmed down despite the white knuckled grip he had on his blade, "We need to go, Hayate. Now." He bit out warily. The wooden hilt in his hand cracked a little under the pressure as he threw the umbrella away.

"What? But we haven't gotten the Scrapped Number!" the young boy whined.

His servant seemed to hesitate for a moment before grabbing the young boy around his waist and lunging for the stoic girl, only to find the strange blonde man standing between them and the _Scrapped Number_. Mutsu immediately leapt backwards in a panic as the urge to rend flesh surged by the blonde's proximity.

"What are you trying to do to her!?" the stranger demanded as he took note of the special phrase that the boy referred to the girl behind him with.

"We have no quarrel with you. We just want to give her a safe place to stay." Mutsu growled out.

The blue eyed blonde snorted derisively, "Yeah right. She looks half dead, covered in blood, and you happen to be carrying a blade. Oh yeah, I'm** totally **going to let you take her."

Suppressing a curse, Mutsu decided that it wasn't worth it and immediately leapt backwards towards the car with Hayate in his arms. Glaring at the retreating car until he was sure that they wouldn't return, the blonde turned around and knelt to check if the woman was wounded. Ignoring the fact that she had a male looking all over her near naked body, she kept her eyes on him in a vacant stare, "Are you alright? Do you need to get that looked at or something?"

"... Yes." She briefly glanced at the shirt, "This blood... is not mine."

The way she spoke was dead, lacking any real intonation whatsoever. Strangely enough, it reminded him of the way his little brother used to speak.

Like someone who had lost all hope in the world and no longer saw anything worth living for, and it tore at his emotions to just leave her here.

Naruto pushed his hair out of eyes in frustration as he wondered what to do. Just then, a whiff of dry, cold ice tainted by the iron tang of blood entered his nose, and he narrowed his eyes at the drenched woman who was still watching him inscrutably, "You... you're not human are you? What are you people? Why are so many of you all over the place?" he demanded from her as his frustration peaked. He had never encountered this sort of problems in all the years that he had lived and he was quite frankly tired of it all.

**Play Ayumi Hamasaki - Missunderstood**

Her grey orbs seemed to get even bigger as she replied in a soft monotone, "... We... are Sekirei. What are **you**?"

A small smile touched his lips at her reaction, at least now he knew that not all of them responded to his presence like blood crazy mad men.

"Ask me again when I have a proper answer, for now you can just call me Naruto." Standing up wearily, he draped his wet blazer around her shoulders, "It's not the best, but it's a damn sight better than that tattered piece of cloth you have." Flicking back his hair once more, he looked around the park to see if there was any shelter for either of them, torn between leaving for his planned shelter and bringing her with him or just leaving her.

Hmm... bring a blood soaked stranger that might be an insane psycho with me, or leave her here where more crazy things that smell like blood might come for her or even worse, she might go crazy on normal civilians.

It was a no brainer.

Grasping her thin arm gently so that he didn't startle the expressionless girl, he helped her up, "Come on. You're coming with me, got to get you out of the rain."

If possible, her eyes widened even further and she grabbed his sleeve, stopping both of them from moving, as she spoke haltingly, "You... want me?"

Naruto blinked in a nonplussed manner, not seeing the important she seemed to place in her question, "I... want to get you out of the rain if that's what you're asking."

Retroactively, as he watched her face suddenly light up with a broad smile, years later, he realized that watching the plain, vacant yet busty girl smile was like watching the sun dawning after a stormy, rainy night.

Somehow fitting, considering the night that they met.

"I assume you can keep up with me?"

She gave him blank look, empty of any signs of understanding. Just when the blonde was about to try again, the pale woman placed her slender feet on the wet ground and stood up with a wobble. Unsteadily, she took a few steps forward before giving the blonde the smallest of nods.

Chuckling slightly, he slicked his hair back and answered her in kind by leaping up into the trees agilely without another word. The sounds of bark and branches cracking slightly behind him, told him that he was right in assuming that the woman was apparently physically far more capable than any human he had met in the past one hundred years.

And judging by the other four he had met so far, he concluded that all of them, or at least most of them, were probably equally as strong or fast.

As they cleared yet another block of buildings and the fourth park, he motioned for the girl behind him to slow down as they reached a residential area, "We're nearly there. I have a place somewhere around here to rest. He probably won't mind if you come along."

The grey haired woman seemed to stumble, prompting Naruto to duck under her and slung one of her arms onto his shoulder to support her. If anything, this just seemed to make the hesitant woman look even more troubled, if the hitch in her soft monotone was any indication, "Ah... Sorry." Downtrodden anger began emanating in waves from the taciturn woman as her stomach growled loudly as she leaned into him weakly, "So... Sorry..."

Naruto blinked at the strange way the woman kept desperately apologizing and carefully replied as he lifted her as gently as he could, "Uh... Don't worry about it. It's technically mine anyway. I just lent it to him."

"Ah... Understood." Despite herself, she couldn't help but lay her cheek on his chest.

'_Of course, I didn't expect to have to meet him again before at least another 80 years have passed._' he internally thought with a grimace as a classic Japanese style, two storeys high mansion came into view when they turned the last corner. Lights shining from the windows told him that at least someone was home.

The edge of Naruto's lips turned up slightly as he watched the mansion with something resembling nostalgia, standing tall and majestic amongst its more modern neighbours, "Izumo Inn. It's been a while."

The two of them slunk through the heavy rain, careful not to let anyone else see them as blonde stronde along the path as fast as he could with a trembling female in his arms, until he reached the door. Gently touching the deep knotted wood of the door with a trace of nostalgia on his lips, he knocked on it as well as he could with the woman in his arms, "Takehito, you there?" he called out loudly.

He faintly heard the sound of footsteps squeaking on the polished wooden floors and waited expectantly for the young man to open the door with a small smile.

When the door started to open, he waved one hand with a cheery smile, "Yo, Take...hito?"

He blinked.

He did not know why. Maybe it was because of boredom, or because he just didn't have anything to look forward to, or because he just stopped caring, but one day, a long time ago, he had stopped seeing the world in colours.

Everything had become drab, grey and monochrome.

The sunset sky that he had loved watching every day regardless of time or urgency had become grey and dead.

There was no difference anyway, he had thought to himself. He only had his job, the burden he had decided to carry and nothing else. For years, he had wondered the planet, from one tragedy to another then sleeping for years on an end when it wasn't his turn.

The person standing in the door way, watching him with large purple eyes was decidedly not the small, inquisitive boy from his memories. Unless he had somehow mistaken Takehito's gender, and he had gotten his hair dyed, which was rather doubtful.

Instead she stood there; long deep purple hair blowing in the strong wind, a splash of incredibly brilliant purple and white on a grey, rainy canvas and the soaked, ragged blonde found himself rather dumbfounded and a little slackjawed.

Then her pupils dilated and she swung the frying pan in her hands and everything went blissfully black as Naruto toppled backwards under the pale haired woman's weight.

******Unwavering Sky******

Messing around with a new story; I know that this story starts out pretty cliché, in fact I don't think I can remember any significant Sekirei/Naruto fics that DON'T start out this way in one way or another. Ya know, immortal and all that jazz. Fortunately, I also don't like to do things that are already overused, so do look forward to something that is different from Naruto taking over Minato's spot.

That being said, Unwavering Sky, End Game, Fata Morgana and Blessed Curse are all more or less side projects, so don't expect regular updates either.

Back to assignments. *Sobs in a corner*


	2. Of Graves and Making Waves

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 2**

Of Graves and Making Waves

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is. **

**Soundtrack List**

The Killers – Mr Brightside

Two Steps from Hell – A Place in Heaven

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play The Killers – Mr Brightside**

_A small grey haired boy, barely 5 years old, watched two birds, Japanese wagtails, chirp as they busily made a nest on a low hanging branch with fascination, flying away every so often to gather more twigs and bits and pieces as building material. His grey eyes slowly, curiously panned from the branch to the large tree it sprouted from, a huge maple tree that grew behind the tall wooden fence that separated his modestly sized, modern brick home from the traditional, large Japanese looking building. _

_His parents always told him to stay away from their neighbor, a quiet blonde man that always seemed to be watching the world pass him by with an undecipherable expression from his window on the second story of the large old mansion. He had never seen the strange man leave his home even once, and he suspected neither had his parents. Many rumors flitted around the neighborhood watch about the antisocial blonde, like how he was an escaped convict that rarely left his house because he didn't want to be seen, or how he was a war veteran suffering from PTSD, judging by the large amount of faded scars he had on his cheeks and hands. _

_None of those rumors scared the little boy, one day, when the nest was finally finished, curiosity overwhelmed fear as he slowly climbed the fence, desperately wanting to look at the insides of the nest, to find the treasure that the birds hid from humans from their spot high above the rest. Yelping slightly as a sharp twig scratched his cheek, he continued to climb undeterred, finding purchase on the rough wood and thick branches. _

_His grin grew larger and larger as he got closer to the nest until the child heard a crack under his feet._

_Apprehension throbbed in his little heart as he felt the branch slowly give way. When the branch finally gave out with a loud crack, apprehension blossomed into fear and the small boy tumbled from the tree with a high pitched scream, landing in the neighbor's garden with a loud thud._

"_Itai… itai…." Cradling his limp arm, the small boy righted himself, half wondering if he had broken something._

"_What are you doing?" A harsh, cold voice caused his small heart jump into his throat as the door slowly swung open to show a blonde man, dressed in simple but neat clothes. A wry frown appeared on his lips as he slowly made his way to the whimpering boy._

_Harshly gripping the limp arm, the blonde man inspected it with a firm grip and prod. Perhaps it was an illusion induced by the hazy pain and fear, but the boy almost thought he could see a gentle green glow emanate from his large and rough palm as the frowning man prodded his arm. Yet, when his neighbor released his harsh grip on his arm, the boy swung his arm back and forth in wonder; the pain was miraculously completely gone._

"_There's nothing wrong with you. Now leave, and don't let me catch you climbing that tree again." The man cut into the boy's musings and briskly reentered his home._

_The next morning dawned sluggishly for the blonde man as he sat in a comfy chair by his window, occasionally sipping some warm sake to ward off the cold morning air, his hands absentmindedly yet skillfully carving a small wooden statue with a small black knife when he heard someone knocking on the front door._

_Grumbling audibly like an old man, the blonde slowly got up to stop the insistent knocking, wondering who was making such a racket so early in the morning._

"_Who are you, and what do you want?" he said with a harsh gravelly tone as he swung the door open, only to find himself looking down at a familiar boy, barely tall enough to reach his knees, staring back up at him with innocently wide grey eyes, "Huh? It's you. What do you want brat?"_

_The aforementioned brat darted through his knees, causing Naruto to yelp in surprise, "Hey! Get back here!"_

_The giggling boy led the cursing man throughout his entire mansion in a merry chase, through the kitchen, the bathroom, and the upper floors, dodging through small nook and crannies that the blonde didn't even know existed in his own home. It was hours and the sun was nearly at its zenith when he finally managed to corner the boy. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt like a misbehaving cat, Naruto lifted him up and brought him up to face level, "What was that for you crazy brat?!"_

"_My name is not brat! It's Asama Takehito!"_

"_I don't care if your name is Buddha, what was that crazy stunt for?"Naruto yelled at the boy with veins popping on his temples._

_Innocent grey eyes stared at him in mirth, "You're finally laughing jii-san."_

"_Huh?"_

"_You always look so sad and lonely jii-san. Mama always told me, when someone is sad, you should make him laugh."_

"_I... I don't know what you're talking about brat." Naruto replied shortly before booting the child out of the door, "And don't come back!"_

_Asama Takehito came back the very next morning and every day after that, smiling cheekily, until one day in the summer of his 15__th__ year, he found the house strangely empty. A small note lay in the middle of the porch, neatly wrapped around a key was all that awaited his arrival._

'_Keep the house clean for me, brat. When I come back, we'll have a drink.'_

******Unwavering Sky******

"Itai… what in the world?" a prone blonde that was slowly returning to the conscious world, feeling strangely light headed, as he instinctively tried to get up, only to find himself being weighed down by something warm. One dully shining blue eye slowly opened to check what was restraining him, only to find two dull grey orbs staring back at him in a distance measured millimeters, a slight hint of concern tinting the girl's sleepy expression, "What… are you doing?"

"Ah… You appeared to be cold." The woman who was dressed in nothing but a single shirt muttered lowly.

Naruto let his head fall back onto the pillow tiredly and started massaging his temples, desperately trying to stop the pain behind his eyes from building up any further, "And you thought you would do that by sleeping on top of me, barely dressed?"

"…Didn't sleep."

Blue eyes snapped open in surprise, "You've been watching me the entire time? How long have I been out?"

"Not… long. I lost count…. after the first 10 hours." She quietly mumbled, still peering deep into his eyes.

He began furiously rubbing his temples with another groan again; this was the first time in decades that he had been unwillingly unconscious for so long, "What a miss…. Did anything happen while I was out? Speaking of which, where are we?"

A sickly sweet voice and an intensely dark aura intruded on the two, "You are still at the Izumo Inn. Speaking of which, am I disturbing something?"

"Ah! You're that crazy lady with the frying pan! What was that all about!?" Naruto pointed at her with an accusing finger before realizing that he was still being pinned underneath the nearly naked grey haired girl on top of him, causing him to scramble away from underneath her with a loud yelp. Akitsu on the hand, appeared to have designated herself as his protector, placed herself between the landlady and her self-proclaimed Ashikabi with feigned casualness. Despite not being able to see her face from where she sat in front of him, Naruto couldn't help but notice the stiffness of her body and her unusual sitting position, as if readying herself to react at the smallest provocation.

If he didn't know any better, it was as if the grey haired girl was preparing herself for a losing battle.

Instead of responding similarly, the newcomer gently placed down a platter with a bowl of porridge on it and politely sat down at the entrance with a straight backed elegance, "May I ask who are you? And how do you know Takehito-san?"

"Shouldn't you be the one to introduce yourself first?" the blonde grumbled lowly, "Unless beaning someone over the head with a frying pan happens to be your version of saying hello to a stranger that is."

Considering how almost everyone he had met so far had reacted ever since he had disembarked from that god forsaken plane, it was a strangely justified description.

The two of them stared at each other in silence, dancing around the issue about the fact that neither of them were even remotely normal, as the ice user dressed in nothing but a single shirt slowly moved to sit beside the blonde now that she had determined the lavender haired woman wasn't going to hit her master again.

Miya ignored the jab and politely replied with a touch of frost in her tone, "My name is Asama Miya. Asama Takehito's wife. Now will you please tell me how you are acquainted with my husband?"

Naruto gaped at her for a moment before he began guffawing loudly, "His-**HIS **wife? Bwahaha! Take-chan ac-actually man-managed to get married?" he gasped out mid laughter, "I thought that idiot would never get married, he always said he was too in love with his projects." he slapped his knee while chuckling, thankful for the laugh that he so desperately needed, "Where is that little brat? This calls for a drink in celebration."

The lady bowed her head solemnly, "Takehito-san, my husband, passed away years ago."

It felt like an invisble sledgehammer had somehow found his way into his gut, and the room was immediately filled with a stifling silence as the blonde's laughter died in his throat, "Wha-what?" he made a strangled sound, "A-are you serious?"

Miya slowly nodded without lifting her face.

The blonde slumped back down into his corner with resignation and slowly massaged his temples, "What happened?" he croaked lowly.

"…. I cannot say. I am sorry."

"Can you at least show me his…" he swallowed, "Grave?"

The landlady carefully watched the already pale blonde's drawn expression slowly take a turn for the worse, increasingly haggard and despairing, trying to discern if he was lying about being friends with her husband. When she found nothing except genuine distress, she slowly got up from her spot to get ready, "Please eat first. I couldn't check your vitals because your… _friend_ refused to let me get close, but even a blind man can see that you were extremely tired when you arrived." She turned to address the silent woman beside the blonde, "Akitsu, come with me please. We can't have you walking around naked like that."

"Ah…."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Two Steps from Hell – A Place in Heaven**

Long fingers, scarred and rough, slowly touched the carvings engraved into a plain tombstone with strange gentleness, "Yo, Take-chan…. You little brat… I always told you that sticking your nose into the fire was stupid. Look where it got you now."

The speaker took a deep shuddering breath and plastered on a fake smile as he took a seat beside the gravestone, "You remember that promise we made about going for a drink with me when you were old enough? How are you supposed to drink now huh?"

Behind him, two women stood, inscrutably watching the tall man joke and talk with his old friend until he lost his voice. He sat there, hunched over and silently watching the sun slowly and visibly set in the background.

"I think… we should head back to the inn first. It looks like he will be taking a while."

The ice user beside her, dressed in a formal, pale lavender kimono that the landlady had lent to her, shook her head obstinately and refused to budge when the man they were waiting for finally moved after hours of silent mourning, creaking like a statue that had not moved in eons.

One hand slipped into the shabby yet neat suit he still wore and gently pulled out a small carving of a bird in flight and lifted it up to breathe on it gently. Delicately, he placed the tiny bird on the headstone and caressed it, muttering something inaudible to the women standing a few paces behind him.

Then there was a sound, similar to the gentle toll of a bell chiming and they watched in mute shock as the tiny bird suddenly glowed with a shining blue aura and jerked, chirping as it seemed to test its wings; slowly morphing from a tiny wooden carving into a statue twice as tall as the tombstone it was standing on. It moved at a snail's pace and hopped off the stone, its weight apparently heavy enough to crack the ground beneath its wooden claws, before encircling it protectively with its wings, it's long wooden neck unwound majestically and its beak opened to emit a sharp, keening wail filled with sadness at the very heavens.

When the wailing stopped, the bird froze again, a wooden statue mimicking a majestic bird of flight with its wings partially curled around the headstone, with no sign of ever having the ability to move at all, its varnished wooden surface glinting under the star light.

Turning around, the blonde patted down his suit casually with a bland expression as if he had not just brought a wooden statue to partial life, or even done anything remotely out of the ordinary and briskly walked past the two shocked women, "Come on, what are you two waiting for? It's time for dinner."

"Who, no, what are you?" Miya managed to stutter at the retreating blonde's back.

The blonde waved back at her over his shoulder, "No one important."

******Unwavering Sky******

"So that weird guy… uh… got you too huh?" Uzume, having regained consciousness barely moments ago, chuckled uneasily at the grey haired man kneeling beside her, her eyes warily watching Miya uncharacteristically stomping through the hallways with a red face, feeling a brief moment of amusement at the surreal scene.

She and her housemate were currently kneeling, or lying as the case maybe, in the hallway leading to the kitchen where the sounds and smells of something being cooked could be detected, and she had to admit that whatever it was, it smelt pretty damn good. In front of them, a rather flustered Miya was repeatedly trying to get through the door, only to be kicked right back out moments later with surprising efficiency.

She scrambled to her feet and literally drove through the open doorway with a battle cry, "Get. Out. Of. My. Kitchen!"

A drenched Kagari cursed lowly as his right eyebrow started to twitch, "No, I'm just kneeling here, soaked to the bones because I enjoy getting sick."

Uzume, who was currently lying on her side, wrapped up in her own cloth like a mummy, tried to wiggle out of their stranglehold one more time. She failed spectacularly.

"Uh huh… can you feel your legs yet? All I got are my hands, and they're not very useful at the moment."

"No…." he replied with a shamed mutter, "One moment he was introducing himself to me, next thing I know, I'm drenched and I can't move. At all."

"So you lost control as well huh?" Uzume replied conversationally, "Say… who is that guy anyway? Some sort of Sekirei? He doesn't look like anyone I know though…" She paused, "Uh oh, Miya's getting her katana."

Kagari gulped as his landlord charged through the door with a sick smile and an unsheathed blade, "Miya! Wait no! You'll destroy the… house?"Only to be literally kicked back out again, this time without her katana.

The look of shock on her face as she unceremoniously landed on her butt almost sent Uzume into frenzied giggles.

"I'm confiscating this. Don't you know you're not supposed to carry weapons around with you? Ah, Akitsu, get that will you? It's going to burn." A male voice called out from inside the kitchen.

"Ah…"

"How the hell is he doing that?" Uzume muttered in awe, "He's kicked our asses so hard that we're basically wearing our buttocks like hats, his treating **Miya, **the friggin Hannya of the North of all people, like a naughty child, and if what my nose is telling me is right, still manage to cook a pretty good hamburger, all at the same time."

He took a deep breath to calm himself, and it seemed to work as the twitches went away. "I don't know, and I don't want to know." Kagari groused bluntly, "I just want to get out of my wet clothes," He raised his voice, directing his complaints to the newest member of Izumo Inn, "If someone will just let me MOVE MY GOD DAMNED LEGS AGAIN!"

"You promise you won't try to burn me again?" the blonde poked his head out of the kitchen, obviously amused as he booted an agitated and embarrassed Miya out of the kitchen again.

The twitch in his right brow returned, and this time it brought friends.

They went to his left eyebrow.

"I'M SORRY! I don't know why I attacked you alright?!" Kagari yelled back, almost hysterically.

"You and everybody else apparently." He murmured quietly, "Alright, alright." The blonde strode over to the fire Sekirei and removed a small needle from the back of his neck.

Wincing a little at the prick, Kagari slowly tried to stand up, only to fall flat on his face when his limbs refused to respond as they should.

Naruto gave the cursing man an amused grin, "Give it some time. The feeling will come back in a minute or so."

Uzume couldn't help it; she broke out into tinkling peals of laughter, especially when Kagari glared at her with a squashed nose.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Author's Note  
**

**I apologize for the shortness, my last assigment is due in 5 hours, just writing this chapter as a refresher of sorts before i continue the mess that is my assignment. after this, i will have an entire week of freedom for my mid semester vacation. then two months until my finals. So things are a little rushed with me.  
**


	3. Acceptance and Defiance

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 3**

**Acceptance and Defiance  
**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is. **

**Soundtrack List**

NERDHEAD ft Kana Nishino – Brave Heart

Yuna Ito – Endless Story

******Unwavering Sky******

_**Play NERDHEAD ft Kana Nishino – Brave Heart **_

_A long procession slowly made their way down the street to the graveyard on the other side of town. Everywhere one looked, one could only see solemn faces, stoic faces, crying faces, every dressed in black, shawls, suits and veils. All along the silent street were maple trees. Fallen red and brown leaves added a splash of bright colour to the solemn faces, as if adding injury to insult, to have something so beautiful during an occasion so sad._

_The sky above only seemed to emphasize the dark irony, for it was gloomy day and thunder cracked every so often, evidence that a downpour was about to arrive, quickening the steps of the procession as a result. _

_It was a funeral. _

_At the fore of the procession was a single boy, barely 6 years old, bravely carrying on alone with a blank expression. Even when he stumbled, he refused to accept help, bravely getting back on his feet by himself. _

_He was determined not to leak a single tear; he would be brave for his parents. _

_He didn't even lift his head to watch the double caskets, each made of expensive mahogany, being lowered into freshly dug earth, reminiscent of gaping wounds fill with inky blackness was enough to move a single brow. He simply stared at them unemotionally. _

_The hours afterwards were some of the worst he ever had, even years later. Sitting in a corner with a cup of hot tea in his small hands, he watched as the gathered adults, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends; some he knew, some barely remembered and some he did not know at all, discussed the topic at hand in urgent hushed tones as they each reluctantly pushed the ball from person to person for hours. _

_Thunder and lightning cracked outside, amidst the drumming of heavy rain. _

"_Who will take the boy in?" one frustrated relative finally yelled, tired of hours of fake smiles and excuses. _

_He couldn't blame him for the outburst, but the words wrenched the wound in his heart even wider. _

"_I will."_

_His head snapped up at the familiar gruff voice, to look deep into bright sapphire eyes staring at him from across the room._

"_Who are you?"_

_The blue searchlights shifted away from the small emotionless boy to the questioner, "Asama-san's neighbour. I will take care of their son. You can do whatever checks you want. I'm not going anywhere until he is of age."_

_His relatives huddled in a corner, holding an urgent and hushed meeting, throwing glances at the scarred blonde and the boy who was still searching for the World's truth in his cup of tea._

_No one wanted the responsibility, especially since the Asamas were not particularly well off and their savings could not provide for another mouth to feed, but they were also reluctant to allow an unrelated person to take the burden, fearing the consequences if something went wrong. _

"_He wants to take the boy isn't it? I say let him. None of us here can afford to take another." The youngest adult spoke; his mother's first removed cousin if he was right. _

_The wound bled just a little more, though none of it showed on his face. _

_Papers were signed and stamped, Asama Takehito, 6 years old; found himself the ward of the scarred blonde, one Naruto Uzumaki. _

_Without a word, the blonde led him to a room that would unknowingly become the room where the future Asama Miya stayed in._

"_Thank you." The boy said lifelessly, and bowed politely. _

"_Get out. Don't come back until you can show me that you can take care of yourself. I said I would take you in, nothing more, I'm too busy to take care of you."_

_The boy looked up in shock. The man had his back to him, staring out into the yard where the red leaves fell like rain, his pose betraying nothing. _

_Without another word, the boy quietly left the house and looked up into the sky with dull grey eyes. The rain had just begun to slow into a drizzle. His feet moved listlessly, walking around town, his dressy black blazer soaked, muddied and torn by the amount of falls he had taken since he hadn't been watching the road at all. His eyes looking straight ahead, resolutely refusing to look down, or the welling tears would fall. _

_He needed a job. But who would take give one to a 6 year old boy? _

_Hours passed before his tired legs finally gave out and he fell, face first into the mud. He bit his lips so hard that he could taste blood, but the dam finally broke. _

_Asama Takehito began crying. _

_The sounds of footsteps approached him, but the crying boy took no notice until he realized the owner of the footsteps had taken a seat beside his face down body, uncaring of the mud and dirt. _

"_You finally cried huh?"_

_Takehito steadfastly refused to look up and acknowledge the fact. _

"_There's nothing wrong with crying. The bravest kind of man is the one that can cry and then get up and continue to face his fears." He coughed gruffly, "Besides, you're not alone I guess. So uh... just cry all you want. You don't need to pretend to be nice and polite with me, I'm not gonna leave."_

_Takehito picked himself up and threw himself at the blonde man who was looking up into the sky, his pants completely soaked by mud and rain water, yet he could not bring himself to care as he gently patted the boy's back, "Baka! Baka! Jii-san no Bakaa!"_

_Naruto grinned at the boy crying into his shirt relentlessly, despite the smell of tobacco and sake. _

_The rain finally completely stopped and no matter how cliché it was, a rainbow slowly formed on the horizon, "Look at that kid. No matter how dark it looks sometimes, the rain will always stop, and a rainbow will always appear. Don't forget it. Now, c'mon, let's go home and get you cleaned up. The bath's already ready. I've had enough sappy stuff for the next 100 years."_

"_Un..."_

_Half an hour later, Takehito found himself sitting in the ofuro, the tension slowly bleeding out of his small body. His neighbour and newfound guardian was sitting behind him and scrubbing his hair. As the man rinsed the suds out of his hair with a pail of water, Takehito turned around to face the elder man with wet eyes._

"_It hurts jii-san..." The five year old looked up to him with tear filled eyes, "Like a painful itch you can scratch, but it only gets worse, and it bleeds... I-Is this why you're so scared to make friends?"_

_Blue eyes stared down at him with an undecipherable pain in them, "Yeah. Yeah it is." He admitted honestly._

******Unwavering Sky******

"That good, huh?" A cheerfully smiling Naruto asked the boarders of Maison Izumo sitting around the dining table as they began digging in with expressions bordering on sheer rapture.

Even Miya who was sitting at the head of the table had to grudgingly admit that the hamburger was perfectly marinated with some sort of foreign spices. She barely just recognized basil and a hint of lemon and mint along with a strange concoction of something vaguely Indian then deep fried at just the right temperature. The potatoes that decorated the dish were cooked to a crispy golden brown and served along with a side of homemade tartar sauce, though she had no idea where he got them since there were none in **her** kitchen.

She glanced along the table and couldn't help but give a smile as everybody was busy eating, it even looked like Uzume had practically stopped breathing just so she could fit more potatoes and hamburger down her gullet, "Uzume. Breath, breath."

The chef himself sat at the middle of the table with a saucer of warm sake, when he noticed that the girl beside him was not eating, the fork and chopsticks still lined up beside her plate untouched, "What's wrong Akitsu. Is it not to your taste?"

"... No. I will eat once you are done Master."

Naruto gently slapped her upside the head, "Don't call me Master, and just eat. Don't worry about manners and all that."

"... Hai. If you say so." Akitsu bowed her head submissively and began following the exasperated blonde's suggestion.

"Naruto-san. Why is there another plate set out? There are only five of us." Kagari asked carefully.

"Oh? That weirdo that's been spying on me the entire time with those cameras isn't going to eat with us?"

Everybody stiffened.

A half chewed potato fell out of Uzume's open mouth, causing Kagari to roll his eyes and tap her chin to shut it.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about Naruto-san. There are only five of us staying in the inn right now, including yourself and Akitsu-san assuming you two are planning to stay anyway." Miya stiffly replied.

"Right... Does that mean **you** were the ones that planted all those mini cameras in the kitchen? And the bath tub? And in the toilet bowl?"

Everyone stiffened again as Kagari and Miya slowly stood up with frighteningly sweet smiles, "Excuse us for a moment. We appear to have a massive pest infestation to deal with."

"No problem." He gestured at the plate, "You might as well bring her down though, so we can get it over with. Be quick though, it's not going to stay warm forever."

Kagari's eyebrow began twitching again since he was pretty sure that line was a jab at his botched introduction, "I'm not sure what you mean Naruto-san, get WHAT over with?"

"Well... we might as well let her or him attack me and get it over with. No point waiting." Naruto commented as he swirled his saucer of sake idly.

"Neh, Nii-chan," Uzume began hesitantly, "Yo-you can really, really sense people like us don't you?"

"I wouldn't call it sense per se." He replied easily, "I have a sense of smell better than most dogs and everybody in this house, including the one upstairs smell like they are soaked in blood." He gave everyone there, excluding Akitsu who had her head bowed down and carefully cutting her hamburger into tiny pieces, a pointed look.

"Blood doesn't wash that easily." the hidden meanings in his words were obvious to everybody listening.

And just like that, the prior happy atmosphere of a group of acquaintances sitting down to a delicious dinner was spoilt by a tense silence that filled the dining room. The three uneasy ones shared worried glances; none of them knew what to do with the enigmatic blonde that seemed to know everything without even trying, or to be honest, whether they could even DO anything to him in the first place considering their earlier attempts.

Just then the sound of someone falling through a tree broke the tense atmosphere and all of them hurried to the door to see what happened, save Akitsu who was now methodically freezing each tiny piece of hamburger and potato before placing the small ice cubes into her mouth and slowly chewing with a blank expression.

A black haired boy, who looked somewhat younger compared to the scarred blonde slowly pulled himself out of the brambles under the maple tree, his exposed skin visibly scratched by the trees and branches on his way down.

Miya stepped out on the lawn warily, her day was already shaken enough with the presence of the weird blonde, even if he seemed to know her husband, "Are you alright?"

The moment Naruto stepped out of the hall, in full view of the grey haired boy and girl, her eyes immediately dilated, causing him to tense, before the fierce expression suddenly disappeared, replaced by a confused expression as she stared at the blonde who at his eyes narrowed at her.

Seeing that he was not about to be attacked once more, Naruto tapped Kagari on the shoulders, "Go ahead and bring the dish up to the pervert. It doesn't look like we're going to be introduced anytime soon." Seeing the silver haired man about to say something, Naruto waved his hand lazily, "Don't worry, even I can see that you don't want people to know about you. I'll keep your secrets for you." He switched his gaze to the girl behind the black haired boy who was still staring at him intently, resembling a puppy that was trying to figure out some new smell, "Though, I honestly don't see why since it would seem that you will have a new member soon."

Uzume appeared on his left shoulder with a low whisper, "How do you know that? Does she smell like... you know... blood too? She didn't attack you though."

Naruto shook his head as Kagari gave him a thankful nod and left, "She smells normal as far as I can tell, but she came into contact with someone who practically reeks of blood recently. They even seem fairly close too judging by the amount of the rotten scent stuck on her, so I just guessed." The blonde replied easily before continuing with a smirk, "Though it wasn't really hard to notice the way her pupils dilated and the fact that she has the same bird crest as you and Akitsu." Naruto concluded thoughtfully before his smirk turned upside down.

"That aside, I'm not sure why she **didn't** attack me, though it looked like she was about to for a moment. I don't have enough information to draw a proper connection yet but at least it means that not all Sekirei will attack me on first sight." He scratched the back of his head in frustration.

"Heeeh..." Uzume staggered back a few steps away from the sharp piercing eyes of the blonde, uneasy that he had apparently noticed her crest despite the fact that she was sure she had it covered, though it at least told her that he did not know everything, "N-not bad Nii-chan. You can be a pretty damn good detective. It's like nothing escapes your eyes."

Naruto grinned and slowly leaned to the side for a better view with a light blush when the ripped and torn top of the grey haired girl's miko costume fell off, revealing two nicely shaped and perky breasts that she did not bother to hide at all, "Uh huh... nothing escapes my eyes... hehehehe..."

A vein popped on Miya's head.

**[JAB]**

"**GAAAAH MY EYES! MY EYES! Whyyyy? WHYYY!?"**

"An-Ano... is he going to be alright?" Minato carefully pointed at the yellow haired weirdo rolling on the floor, crying tears of blood.

"Please ignore that piece of trash. He's just exaggerating." The landlady smiled sweetly, "Before that, you should come in so that we can patch that up for you." She glanced at the innocent looking Musubi who was still completely naked, "And I don't think your friend can leave the way she is right now."

Minato bowed humbly, "I'm truly thankful for your assistance. I'm sorry that I have nothing to offer in recompense."

She nudged the rolling blonde at her toe, "Trash, you might as well make yourself useful and get the first aid box and some clothes for Minato-san."

Crying comically, the suffering blonde blindly felt his way upstairs to where he could smell Kagari.

******Unwavering Sky******

The blonde carefully wrapped a piece of medical tape around the bandage on the boy's knee, "There. Perfect." He declared with a grin and a slap on the knee, causing Minato to yelp and glare at him tearfully.

"I'm just joking." he said with small smile, "So how did you manage to get on top of that old tree anyway?" Naruto casually questioned him as he took a sip from his sake dish.

"I uh... got blown there? Hehehe..."

It really didn't take any effort whatsoever to see through that lie but the blonde simply shrugged noncommittally, "Must've been a pretty strong wind."

"Uh... ye-yes it was." Minato sat there, uncomfortably fidgeting under the blonde's bloodshot stare, "Excuse me for being a busybody, but a-are you alright?"

"Hmmm?" Naruto glanced down at his body, checking if there was something out of place, "Was there something wrong with me?"

"Your... uh... eyes. Miya-san poked them pretty hard."

"Don't worry about that. I'm pretty tough. You could poke my eyes out and I'd just shove them up your arse along with a few sticks of dynamite after I grew new ones." Naruto chirped happily. Minato gave him a strange look, obviously thinking that it was a joke.

It wasn't.

Just then the shoji beside the lounging blonde opened to reveal two ladies dressed in traditional kimonos, the grey haired one was dressed in a grey one with grey patterned blooms standing out on the elegant cloth, while the lavender haired woman beside her was dressed in a beautiful white one with pale pink flowers and a light red obi.

The blonde gave a low whistle while the black haired boy looked like he was about to speechlessly faint from the beautiful vision, "I'm glad I've lived long enough to see this." Naruto said with a half grin.

"Do I look nice Minato-san?" Musubi cheerfully twirled for her Ashikabi to see, "I borrowed a kimono from Miya-san!"

"Ha-Hai... you look very nice."

"Muu..." she pulled open the front of her kimono to reveal her nice jugs again, "But it's a little tight around my chest, and it's a little hard to move around in."

**[JAB]**

"**WHY?! **I didn't even see anything yet! All I only saw was a flash of soft, white, ski-"

**[JAB]**

"**! $#! %."**

"Yet." Miya calmly rebutted with a perfectly unruffled poise.

"Then why isn't Kagari getting his eyes poked out!? He's obviously looking isn't he!?" the blonde demanded from the floor as he began crying blood again.

The silver haired man who was standing behind the two ladies simply snorted into his hands in an pathetically poor attempt to hide his amusement, needless to say, it wasn't working very well.

Miya opened her mouth to sharply refute Naruto's claim when she realized she didn't know why. A brief look of confusion crossed her face before she recomposed herself with a firm, "Kagari is a gentlemen and not a pervert like you."

"Oh... so he's gay." He muttered in a stage whisper that everybody heard, "So** that's** why he kept staring at my behind..."

"Maybe..?" Miya replied, hiding a smile behind her hand.

"**Miya!?" **Kagari's laughter died in his throat, causing him to splutter in chagrin, "I am **NOT **gay! And why are **you** hiding your butt from me!?"

"Cos... you know... it's not safe. My butt is pretty good looking after all."

"Stop hiding your butt from me! I mean-"

"You **do **realize what that sounds like don't you? Don't worry, I won't treat you any different. I mean, it's your choice after all..." Naruto coquettishly scooted further away from the slender man as Miya began giggling while Minato looked on with a hesitant smile. Musubi just looked confused.

As the host slowly began looking like an overcooked lobster that was about to spontaneously combust, he made a decision. Naruto Uzumaki was now number 2 on his _Must-Kill-Before-I-Die List_, just one step below a certain other madman.

Ignoring their antics, Miya coughed slightly and graced Minato with an apologetic bow, "I'm sorry that we couldn't provide you and Musubi with any normal clothing. I only have traditional ones and my husband's old tracksuit was the only one in the house that would fit you."

The black haired boy was quick to return Miya's bow, "No, no, it's more than enough for Musubi. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness." Then he bowed to a nonplussed Naruto, "Thank you for lending me your tracksuit Naruto-san. When we find a place to stay, I'll be sure to wash these clothes and return them to you and Miya-san properly."

The atmosphere sobered noticeably at the boy's words, "Her husband already passed away, Minato-san. That aside, if you're looking for a place to stay, Izumo has a vacancy." Naruto commented quietly.

"Re-really?" Minato looked around at the smiling faces hopefully before his own fell, he would have loved to stay here, where it seemed like they were friendly people that always laughed and were there for everybody. This warm, rowdy atmosphere that reminded him of a family...

However, it could not be cheap for a spacious, convenient place like this.

"Ho-how much is it?" he asked hesitantly.

Miya glanced at the blonde, since it was apparently his house now. Said blonde cracked an amused half grin and shrugged, taking another sip from his saucer.

"It is 40000 yen a month, excluding water and electricity bills. Those will be shared equally." Miya firmly answered; despite the flyer outside saying it was 50000. She would just charge the extra 10000 yen to the real house owner.

The hope returned to Minato's face, the average price for a six tatami room in New Tokyo was currently 70000 yen a month, finding a place like this for only 40000 yen was almost like hitting a lottery. Looking like something good had finally happened to him, he bowed deeply, "Please allow me to stay here with Musubi, Miya-san. We were evicted from our previous housings because no women were allowed... and I uh... just couldn't leave Musubi alone."

Miya smiled gracefully, "Lift your head Minato-san, and welcome to our Maison Izumo."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Yuna Ito – Endless Story**

That night Naruto found himself spreading two futons in the room across from Minato's, one for him and one for Akitsu.

"Did you enjoy dinner?" he asked the girl who was quietly sitting in a corner, emotionlessly watching him as if resolutely trying to keep him within her line of sight at all times, something he had noticed her doing ever since he had brought her to Izumo. So much so, that he hadn't even brought up the fact that he was only going to give her shelter until she was ready to spread her own wings again.

"... Yes, Master." She replied slowly with a cute tilt of her head that Naruto was beginning to interpret as Akitsu speak for,_ 'I am curious, but I don't want to ask in case I annoy you.'_

"You want to ask me something?" he prompted encouragingly.

Hesitantly, the grey haired girl spoke in her customary, methodical way, "Earlier... when Miya-san was harming you, why didn't you allow me to stop her?"

The blonde scratched his cheek in some embarrassment, "Well... I just felt bad I guess. Here I am, a stranger bursting into her life, making a mess of everything and turning everything upside down. It's just my way of uh... apologizing I guess."

Akitsu slowly nodded as something seemed to dawn on her, "Next time when I do something wrong. Please hit me."

"Why... why are you blushing?" Naruto face palmed, "Never mind, forget I said anything. By the way, what are you doing in that corner?" He asked exasperatedly, "Come on, the bed's already set for you."

Her eyes shifted momentarily to the laid out futon that was supposed to be hers, "... That will not be appropriate. I will stay awake and guard you Master."

"When was the last time you had some proper sleep? If I remember right you were watching over me while I was out last night too, weren't you?" The blonde noted sharply, causing Akitsu to instinctively look down at his tone, "Even though you could barely even move from hunger and exhaustion!"

Seeing her react like that, immediately made the blonde feel immensely guilty as he wondered what kind of life the emotionless girl had been living up till now; a life where she performed the role of a blank slate. Doing her best to ensure that whoever her Master was, and it was beginning to look like she was going to be permanently latched on to him, would be happy with her.

Like the lost little boy that he had taken in around 20 years ago, she was apparently repressing her own needs so that she was not rejected.

"Look, I'm sorry. Just come over here and rest. You can't guard me properly if you don't rest right?" He said in a soothing and persuasive tone.

As Akitsu's bowed head slowly rose to the blonde's logic, Naruto smiled softly, "It'll be fine."

"...Understood." She slowly shuffled over and dug herself into the warm futon, continuously keeping her eyes on the blonde when a sudden flare of light from across the hall caused both of them to stiffen as they recognized it.

Akitsu, instantly recognized it as the one thing she wanted most, the one thing she would give anything for, while the blonde himself felt something he had not felt in years, an intentional flare of, actual and potent chakra.

He suppressed the need to go charging in to find out what was the source, placing more priority on Akitsu, who was currently trembling in her futon with her eyes closed, "Why are you shaking? Did it have something to do with that chakra?"

"Cha...kura?" She said haltingly with a confused look before slowly shaking her head, "That was the proof of a Sekirei's; of Musubi's bond with her Ashikabi, Minato-san."

"You know... I still have absolutely no idea what a Sekirei is." Naruto muttered.

Akitsu shut her eyes and shook her head obstinately, "It is better for you not to know if you have not winged a Sekirei. Your life is safe the way it is."

Naruto would've seriously debated the validity that last point with her; instead he simply narrowed his eyes at her, "What about you? You are a Sekirei are you not? You called me your Ashikabi before as well."

"I..." She swallowed the lump in her throat and seemed to tense herself, to ready herself for some sort inevitable disappointment as her voice wobbled, "I am a Scrapped Number. Defective because of the experiments. I cannot be winged. Calling you, truly calling you my Ashikabi... is but an unobtainable, unachievable, impossible dream." She opened her eyes, filled with desperate hope that the blonde would not reject her for being defective, "Bu-but it's al-alright, because I cannot be winged, I don't have to fight, so I can still stay with you, and you will still be safe."

"Fight?"

"... Un, all Sekirei have to fight with each other, and the losers will be taken from their Ashikabi."

"Why?"

Again, she shook her head obstinately, her eyes pleading with him not to ask anymore.

It was the most emotion he had ever felt coming from the ice user. And it damn near broke his heart to see her so desperate. The tatami under his fist cracked slightly.

"That's good Akitsu, but you haven't told me what YOU wanted yet." Naruto coaxed softly.

"M...me?"

"You."

"I... want to stay with you."

The blonde closed his eyes and breathed a pained sigh as he knew what was going to inevitably happen.

He began gently stroking her hair before bending over the prone girl, "Then I accept you Akitsu. Flaws, weaknesses and all, I accept you as my Sekirei." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead; directly in the middle of the Sekirei mark, "You can stay with me. As long as you want. I'll never chase you away. Now sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up."

He began to sing a quiet lullaby to the girl as he stroked her light brown hair with bone white streaks in them.

A truly bright smile appeared on her lips, as her eyes, shining a pale icy blue instead of the sad grey he had always seen, slowly darkened, as if the stress of everything that had happened so far was finally felt in all its combined glory, along with the lulling melody, sent her into a deep, healing sleep.

He placed a rough palm on her forehead and made seals with his free hand, "_Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu_." the scarred blonde gave a short approving nod as his spell set in, the hypnotic sleep would ensure that she would not wake up until something either hit her or he released the jutsu.

Slowly he got up and stealthily moved into the hallways, closing the door behind him firmly.

"We need to talk. I want answers."

Miya slowly appeared from a shadowy corner, a sad frown on her lips, "I can only tell you what I know. Some secrets are not mine to tell."

The mansion began to rumble as the pent up anger slowly bled out of the blonde, turning his eyes a blood crimson with concentric circles around the pupil, yet all his fury was somehow contained within a visible tiny, tightly controlled bubble that swirled with red and orange translucent flames.

Miya staggered backwards as a massive shape formed behind the blonde out of the flames; only instead of Hannya mask appearing, the flames solidified into a roaring, gaping jaw as wide as he was tall, filled with glinting fangs that dripped with blood, "It will be enough. I'm starting to think I should just blow MBI up, and I will if I don't like what I hear. And by the time I'm done with them, Death will be a blessing they cannot obtain by virtue of being in so many different pieces that not even the Almighty Creator can put them back together."

Miya deduced that Takehito had probably learnt how to do that from the blonde in front of her.

******Unwavering Sky******


	4. Of Memories and Mammaries

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 4**

**Of Memories and Mammaries  
**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is. **

**Soundtrack List**

Hirano Aya- God Knows (Piano)

Five for Fighting – Superman (It's Not Easy)

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Hirano Aya- God Knows (Piano)**

_Naruto took another puff from his pipe and let the acidic smoke out of his chest with a single long sigh, grey smoke slowly swirling in the still air. It had been nearly one year since he had taken in Takehito, but the boy was still…. shaken to put it mildly. _

_While he was not actively depressed, the seven year old had more or less retreated from social contact by focusing entirely on his studies and projects, which more or less translated to him locking himself into his room, doing just enough to be considered a functioning human in society and the blonde did not want to actively interfere… however… _

"_You wanted to talk to me?"_

_Naruto waved at the boy to take a seat, puffing out another cloud of noxious smoke._

"_What?" The small boy who was sitting out on the veranda with him peered up at the blonde with bored eyes. _

"_Your classroom teacher contacted me today for your end of year report." His guardian commented idly with another swirl of smoke._

"_What about it?" Takehito murmured quietly, "I've been doing well in my studies." _

"_Well…. You're not wrong per se…" Naruto picked up the folder beside him and glanced at its contents, "Top student in the school and top athlete for your age, to the point where your teachers are considering allowing you to skip a few grades even though you're only seven."_

"_That's good isn't it?" the grey haired boy inquired with a tilt of the head. _

"_It's certainly better than some people that I won't name," Naruto replied with a crooked grin, remembering his own rather abysmal academic track record, "But then again, the report comes with a small addendum." Naruto passed the folder to the boy, who's grey eyes slowly panned down the page silently, scanning through the last page, "Though unfailingly polite and soft spoken, Asama-san has no obvious friends, actively avoids meaningful contact and to top it off, part of the reason they are going to let you skip a few grades is because everybody in your class is pretty much intimidated of you. Not too bad for a seven year old whose balls haven't even dropped yet I suppose."_

_Takehito wrinkled his nose at the rather crude metaphor but otherwise stayed silent. _

'_I guess I haven't been a good role model,' Naruto internally reflected while refilling the tobacco in his pipe with nimble fingers, "Do you remember what you asked me that day? The one I didn't know how to answer?"_

_Takehito nodded slowly, "If making bonds is just going to hurt you sooner or later, to have things that are precious to you hurt you when they are taken away, then why do you bother to make bonds at all?"_

_Naruto gently blew another puff of bluish grey smoke, "Losing someone precious to you is always going to hurt, there is no escape from that. Not even the gods are safe from this law. Yet why do people still willingly suffer for it?"_

_The grey eyed boy shook his head, signifying that he still didn't know._

"_Your bond with your parents brought you to where you are today, yet when they passed away, you were left holding one end of the bond with no one at the other end. Yeah it's going to hurt like a damned splinter up your behind, but that bond, that thin piece of string in your hand, its proof that your parents loved you even after they've gone, and it's going to stay with you no matter what."_

_He took a deep breath, "It's not just them, every person you meet; be it your class room teacher, your best friend, your parents or even someone you bump into on the middle of the street leaves a mark on your soul even if you forget it later on. They shape you into who you are and influence the steps you will take on the path of life. Each bond makes a knot that cannot be undone or cut no matter how small, only changed, and every encounter has its own meaning and purpose. You grow because you have bonds with those around you, made you who you are today and who you will be." _

_He blew another great cloud of smoke that twirled in the air, images of long forgotten people seemed to form in the smoke in front of the blonde's weary eyes; a raven haired man, a silver haired man with one eye, a blonde busty woman… image after image materialized briefly, taunting him, before they faded into grey smoke. _

_He smiled tiredly, "You can hide and you can run from making any bonds at all, but all that is going to do is guarantee that you will become nothing but an empty shell and watch bitterly as the world passes you by. You can even numb yourself with worldly pleasures, but it's not going to change the fact that all that's going to give you is a bad kidney and more blisters than the moon." _

_His ward glanced at the pipe that hung loosely from his hand dryly, "You seem to be making a pretty good job of it."_

_Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm not exactly a good role model."_

"_You weren't meant to be a role model. Period." _

"_Just seven years old and already a smartass. I pity your whoever's going to be your wife."_

"_I'm not getting married. I'm too busy with my projects." The grey haired kid replied with his nose stuck in the air before he lowered his head and his voice wavered, "…I get it. I get what you're saying. But I'm scared to take that step forward."_

"_Then…." Naruto chewed the pipe's mouthpiece for an indecisive second._

_Maybe it was time to stop hiding, he mused to himself, before speaking again, making sure no hint of hesitation made it into his gruff tone, "I'll take that step with you brat. How about it?"_

"…_. Alright."_

"_Heh. Good answer." The older blonde grinned and pumped a fist into the air, "This calls for a celebration. Let's go to the hot springs on the other side of town."_

_Takehito sweat dropped and gave the blonde a weird look, "What for?"_

"_To strengthen our manly bond!" he paused with an innocent confused look, "Isn't that the way men are a supposed to bond nowadays? I saw it in a manga." _

_Takehito picked his nose with a disdainfully blank expression, "Don't wanna. It's embarrassing to be seen with someone like you."_

"_Ehhh….. C'mon, I'll even show you a super special secret of mine." the blonde goaded with a smile._

"_His natural curiosity awakened, Takehito hesitantly leaned forward, "S-secret?" _

_The blonde hid an evil grin, hook, line and sinker, "Yeah, a secret that no plain old book can ever show you, a secret that reveal unto you the true beauty of life, bountiful secrets that hitherto only exists for true men!"_

_**1 hour later.**_

_Takehito glared at Naruto with all the heat of a dying sun._

_The blonde was wearing nothing but a white piece of towel around his waist while he scurried around the wall of thickly woven bamboo, looking for a crevice or hole with exceptional enthusiasm, "Peeping in the hot springs? That's your secret? Do I even want to know why you have a special hidden hole here?"_

_A happy Naruto bounced as he found his super special secret, removing a portion of bamboo to reveal a small peephole underneath it, "Uhyoo! I found it! The true beauty of life lies right beyond this secret hole! Bountiful beauties!"_

_The grey haired boy's eyebrow began twitching in anger, "Please die. Seriously, just die."_

"_You sure you don't wanna look?" Naruto offhandedly goaded, "I mean I understand, you're just too chicken to do it aren't you? Oh well, I guess it's to be expected since your balls haven't dropped yet. Kids like you can't appreciate it anyway."_

_Takehito bit his lip and thought for barely a moment, "I-I'll do it!"_

"_Atta boy!"_

_A grumbling Takehito splashed his way towards the section of the bamboo wall where the blonde was standing and put his eye to the small hole with an expectant gulp. _

_Just then he heard the sound of something breaking but before the boy could do anything, the entire part of the wall he was leaning on surged forward as if, pitching the screaming boy onto the reverse side of the fence and into steaming water. _

_Coughing and spluttering, Takehito spat out the sulphurous water as he resurfaced, paling when he found himself sitting, with nothing but a piece of floating cloth to protect his decency, right in the middle of a group of naked ladies, each of them glaring at the stunned seven year old._

"_Wa-wait, it-it's not my fault! It's his! He forced me to do it!" Takehito pointed at the big hole in the wall's section at where Naruto was supposed to be standing._

"_There's no one there." One rather busty black haired lady stated with eyes narrowed suspiciously at the obviously preteen boy. Kids sure hit puberty pretty early nowadays._

"_He's not there?!" Takehito spun around and gaped at the hole in the wall, the only thing that he could see from his spot in the chest high water was a small white piece of paper, hanging from a string tied to the ceiling. Scrawled on the paper's wet surface was a childish drawing that depicted someone with familiar spiky hair holding up a victory sign._

_It took him a few silent moments to understand what the drawing meant._

"_**Manly bond my ASS**__!"_

******Unwavering Sky******

"So... you're saying that Sekireis are a race of extraterrestrial beings that are biologically compatible with humans, and as such they seek out suitable partners amongst humans with a special gene that can enhance them further. Specifically those that have Sekirei blood in them" He punctuated his words with sharp pokes in Miya's direction, "Which are called their Ashikabis. Once they have found their destined partners, Sekireis participate in a _stupidly pointless_ fight with each other until there is only one left?"

Miya winced at the emphasis he put on _stupidly pointless._

The blonde sighed as he thought through the myriad of facts he had received, "I think I understood most of it, but tell me again, exactly why are **you** and the other 107 beings like you obeying someone who obviously belongs in a mental institute and under heavy medication? Especially since he's practically asking each of you to practically attack what I assume should be your siblings in a possibly lethal manner and rip them away from their loved ones?"

Miya winced again at his brutally honest assessment of the situation and busied herself pouring more tea into her cup while the blonde stared at her, as if he was trying to puzzle something out, namely, exactly what were Sekirei. To be perfectly honest, the ability to use chakra had actually died out a few thousand years ago, give or take a millennia, mostly because there was nothing to use it against when humans creatively found their own way to surpass obstacles without the help of chakra. After sensing the flare of chakra in the new tenant's room, the blonde had hypothesized that Sekireis might be the descendants of the age of Shinobi, which didn't really make sense since there was no reason for them to suddenly come into existence after so long an absence until his hypothesis had been blown to smithereens by the landlady claiming that they were extraterrestrial beings.

That being said, it still did not explain why goddamn aliens, of all things, were capable of accessing chakra like shinobis of old and using aforementioned chakra to enhance their abilities in a myriad of ways similar to how a shinobi could use it, only they seemed to be stuck to their own special brand of powers instead of being capable of branching away like most higher level shinobis would, not to mention, their abilities were limited, incomplete and unstable until they made a pact with their chosen Ashikabi. Or maybe they had to mature more first to do it, the blonde mentally shrugged, he would find out later.

At the same time, despite their lack ability to diversify, he had never seen specialization to such a level in any single shinobi, or at least not without decades spent on training. For instance, even at the peak of the Shinobi era, no one had been capable enough to wield flames with as much ease and elegance as an _incomplete_ Homura or Akitsu's control over ice, unnaturally reminding him of another ice user, this one male, not even his old rival.

That brought up another question; they were all apparently looking for partners in an attempt to prepare for some sort of martial tournament that would apparently take the losing side away from their partners. The pact making itself practically sounded like a mating ritual to preserve their race, but that really didn't take into account them sort of killing each other off.

"Nghh….." Naruto rubbed his jaw, "This whole thing sounds like a really big mess."

"Somewhat." Miya admitted with a dignified nod, "I haven't told you everything yet, but that is the bare bones of things as they currently stand. What will you do? There's no reason for you to help is there? From everything I've heard so far, it sounded as if you were simply passing by New Tokyo and never had any real intention of getting mixed up with all this."

"True." Naruto admitted as he considered the question thoughtfully, "Leaving New Tokyo isn't really that much of a problem even without money or documents, but it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere any time soon." He smiled cynically, a dark contrast to how Miya normally saw him act, "Not just because my friends have always called me a busybody but I get the impression that Akitsu wants to stay as well." He leaned back on the shoji with a sigh, "I did say I'd accept her after all."

"You could always tell her that you want to leave. I'm fairly sure she would not mind, not after pleading with you not to get mixed up with everything." Miya pointed out.

The blonde nodded, "True. But that isn't what **she **wants. That's the important thing here."

The lavender haired woman sipped her cup of tea, silently thanking the blonde for being considerate for one of her more unfortunate... children, "Does that mean you plan to do something about this _pointless _tournament as you so nicely put it?"

He gave her a dry look, "You don't really need me to do anything about it, considering who and what you are. Given what I've seen from you, I'd still be hard pressed to defend against you without drastic measures if you attacked me seriously."

"I am but one," Miya replied quietly, not even bothering to question how he had managed to deduce that she was not a normal Sekirei, or her level of skills from their meagre interactions so far though she held some rather nebulous reservations regarding his claim of being able to hold her off though she refrained from commenting on it. He was highly skilled to be sure, but he was still human, albeit an odd human.

Besides, thinking too deeply about the blonde was like deliberately asking for a migraine and an ulcer, "As much as I dislike it, Minaka's continued existence provides me and my siblings a measure or protection from the rest of the world. Without him, whole countries would be free to march upon us, I can protect them in an open fight and brute force my way through with little help, but nothing is stopping them from covertly slipping under my watch and kidnapping one or two Sekirei for… experimentation in an attempt to create artificially enhanced humans."

Naruto took note of the way the violet haired woman seemed to pause with a hint of bitterness in her voice, at the phrase experimentation, which just seemed to imply that that was exactly what had happened before, "Running away and disappearing just doesn't seem viable especially since we have more than a few Sekirei who are more willing to stay and fight, not to mention the logistics involved in getting a hundred or more individuals, many of whom are naïve to the way this world works, away from Minaka's extremely wide influence. On the other hand, a few couples may be able to escape the net, but the fact remains that they will also lose Minato's protection on the outside world unless they can blend into society well enough to not draw attention to their... abilities."

She took a deep calming sip of her chrysanthemum tea and summarised her feelings succinctly, "Even if we do rally enough like minded forces and somehow manage to stop fighting amongst ourselves long enough to defy Minaka, more likely than not, I fear that our actions would simply give the rest of the world a good reason to fear and sanction us. Not exactly the best method of integrating into society."

Naruto sighed, "I need my pipe. This is getting depressing."

"Pipe?" Miya arched a delicate eyebrow at the grumbling blonde as his words awakened a deeply buried memory.

The blonde watched as the landlady elegantly stood up and moved over to her wardrobe, fishing out a carefully wrapped box from the deepest part, "Takehito never smoked, so I always wondered why he had something like this, though he never explained. He always kept it carefully cleaned as well." She offered the thin but ornate box to him, "I assume it's yours?"

Receiving it with slightly trembling hands, the blonde smiled softly, "The brat really kept it clean for me didn't he?"

Opening the long and narrow oblong box, the blonde with scars on each cheek removed a thin pipe with an ornately decorated bowl at the other end or the varnished stem, "I forgot I left this here. Always meant to get a new one but I never quite managed it." He muttered quietly as he lifted the mouthpiece to his lips, "Or maybe... I just didn't want to."

The moment it entered his mouth, blue eyes widened to incredulous proportions before spitting the pipe right back out and began rolling on the floor, frantically patting down his red lips. When failed to stop the burning in his mouth, he literally began smashing his face into the ground in an attempt to distract himself from his burning tongue.

"**Bleeping brat put ultra chilli pepper powder on my friggin pipe!"**

Miya's grinned in amusement as she watched him repeatedly bang his face on the tatami, feeling a rather twisted sense of satisfaction as she made a mental note about the blonde's weakness for spicy food for future reference.

******Unwavering Sky******

A silver haired woman with short hair idly picked up a goblet of wine before leaning back onto the soft leather seats of her limousine, "You seem rather agitated, Homura."

The pale haired man who sat opposite her in a black suit only smiled wryly, "Was it that obvious?"

"A little," Takami took a sip from the goblet as she watched the scenery pass by, "Something wrong with Izumo Inn?"

A vein instantly popped on his forehead as he remembered Naruto's antics, the wine in his own goblet began bubbling, "Ev-everything is fine," He bit out with an utterly fake smile, "We've just received two new tenants so things have been a little hectic that's all. Their very nice people. Very nice..."

His companion arched a delicate eyebrow at the rather flustered man's strained voice; this was the actually the first time that she had ever seen Homura act like that. As a host and self proclaimed Guardian of the Sekirei, he was always very composed and calm except when his powers temporarily went out of control, though this seemed like something completely different, more natural if she had to say, "Hmm... It seems like you've made some friends. Was it with Minato?"

"Made friends? Who the hell would be friends with that crazy bastard!?" Homura put his goblet aside and began ranting in anger with forceful gestures to emphasize his... preferences.

Takami hid an amused grin behind her wine glass. Okaaay... so it wasn't Minato, she seriously doubted if her son was bold enough to provoke such a reaction from the usually composed host. She scrunched up her nose in confusion, "Wait, if it isn't Minato or Musubi then who're you talking about? Our satellites didn't detect anyone else entering Izumo."

Homura froze mid rant, his thoughts racing as he debated about letting Takami know about the Scrapped Number and the really strange blonde. Just then he blinked as the full impact of Takami's words penetrated his thoughts; they hadn't detected something major like the Scrapped Number staying at Izumo? Regardless... the infuriating blonde had promised to keep his secrets so he would at least have enough courtesy to return the favour.

Sighing, he leant back into his seat, "Just a rather annoying person and his friend. They're staying in one of the rooms for now."

The grey haired woman narrowed her single visible eye at him, "I see..." and made a mental note to investigate further the new tenants further. There were already too many incidents lately to be completely coincidence: what with Kusano's untimely escape and Yomi's invasion of MBI's labs, her own son getting embroiled in the Sekirei Tournament and worse of all, the stranger that had escaped their safety net at the airport had yet to be found despite MBI's best efforts. Things had gotten too far out of hand in recent weeks for her to be truly comfortable with.

Before their conversation could go any further, the limousine slowly came to a stop three streets away from Izumo Inn, the host opened the door with a charming smile, "My thanks for sending me home, Takami. Will I be seeing you at the club again soon?"

"Probably not for a week or so." The grey haired woman sighed and rubbed her temples, "There are just too many problems lately, until then if there's any new information I'll contact you by phone."

******Unwavering Sky******

Akitsu stirred on her futon, wrapping herself up even more tightly in her comforter. It had been a long time since she had such fulfilling sleep, one without nightmares or... icy blue eyes snapped open and she jerked upright, frantically looking around for her Ashikabi.

"Morning." A voice greeted her from right behind her in a cheerful tone.

She spun around to see her Ashikabi sitting on the window sill, watching her with a warm smile as he puffed on a pipe. Bright yellow sunlight filtered through the window, and for one fleeting moment, she felt that her Ashikabi and the rising sun were somehow... similar.

Unwavering yet ephemeral.

Brushing her unsettling thoughts away with a light shake of her head, warm relief immediately spread through her body at the sight of the blonde, a rather strange feeling if she said so herself, and she calmed down with a small sigh and almost imperceptible smile.

"Good morning, Master." The pale haired beauty with bone white highlights in her hair muttered quietly before slowly and deliberately moved to his side with measured steps and plonked herself down beside the amused blonde's legs in a deferential position. Then she stared at him with half lidded eyes, up and down as if to reassure herself that he was really there. Once she confirmed whatever she was looking for she nodded once in satisfaction, leaned his legs and began trying to organize her messy bed hair into some semblance of order with her fingers.

"We're going to need to get you some more clothes and some toiletries." Naruto carefully observed wooden grain of the window sill.

Akitsu paused and glanced at the fluffy white pyjamas that the landlady had lent her the night before. She cocked her head at the watching blonde and uttered a single quiet, "Why?"

"Well..." For one, we can't keep depending on Miya, and second... " Naruto scratched his cheek with a light blush as he forcefully stopped himself from looking downwards at her breasts which were almost popping out of the rather strained pyjamas, even with the top two buttons already unbuttoned, made worse by the fact that he had a perfectly good view down her cleavage due to his vantage point. He coughed uncomfortably and busied himself cleaning his pipe for breakfast, "Let's just say you need some new clothes and leave it at that."

He was more than game to take a peek at most females, but ogling people like Akitsu who were so pure and innocent... made him feel uncomfortably like a paedophile.

In the kitchen, the lavender haired landlady felt a sudden urge to plant her fist in a certain blonde's face.

Naruto watched Akitsu weigh his words with the same blank face, the only sign that she was doing anything was her cute wrinkled nose before seemingly coming to a conclusion, "Understood Master."

The blonde paled as the pale haired woman slowly stood up, "Akitsu?"

"Yes?"

Naruto shifted his pants uncomfortably and spoke in a strained voice, "Why are you taking off your clothes? In front of me?"

Akitsu blinked and looked down at her uncovered chest, "... Is something wrong?"

The blonde sighed and stood up, "You're a lady aren't you? Ladies shouldn't let people see their skin so easily unless it's their husband; that is a lady's pride." He ruffled Akitsu's hair with a half smile on the way out of the room, I'll be waiting for you downstairs; we'll have breakfast before we leave."

As the blonde left the room, Akitsu once more looked down, one long finger delicately tracing her pale skin, "Lady and Husband..."

A light blush dusted her cheeks before she shook it off and resumed dressing herself in yesterday's kimono before making her way towards the dining hall with dignified and measured steps.

She found her Ashikabi already eating at the table, sitting beside a rather ruffled looking Kagari. At the head of the table, the landlady sat, biting her lips to stop herself from chuckling out loud as the blonde continued to outrageously tease the silver haired host.

"You sure you alright, Kagari? You weren't home all night. I know some rather effective salves for..." The sideways glance the blonde shot at his bum was not missed by the grey haired man, "...Soreness." Naruto finished with a rather innocent grin.

Uzume collapsed into gales of laughter.

The tea in Kagari's hands began boiling as he chose not dignify Naruto with a response.

"Um... excuse me." A rather timid voice came from behind her spot at the dining hall's entrance, causing her jump slightly before turning to stare at the newcomer and his bouncing Sekirei.

Minato quailed under the stranger's impassive stare, "Uh-Uhm do you stay here too?"

The pale woman's half lidded stare intensified as she tried to remember if she had introduced herself to the brown haired boy before deciding it really didn't matter. Nodding once, she stood aside and gestured at the table speaking in her usual monotone, "...Breakfast."

As the brown haired boy passed by her with his head bowed, Musubi followed until she caught sight of the crest on Akitsu's forehead and came to a sudden halt and thrust her face into Akitsu's until they were nose to nose. The overly perky dark haired girl stared at the crest on her forehead with some fascination. Quirking her lips in what passed for scowl for the impassive ice user, she briefly considered freezing the annoyingly energetic maiden into a nice, silent chunk of ice before a somewhat hazy memory about Naruto keeping secrets lazily floated to the forefront of her mind.

Let it be known that Akitsu was not a morning person.

She gently tapped Musubi's nose and pushed her face away before lifting one finger to her lips, silently telling the innocent girl that was dressed like a shrine maiden to keep it a secret, as her Ashikabi had promised.

Smiling brightly, Musubi nodded and bounced into the dining hall to where Minato was speaking to a red faced Kagari while Akitsu took her spot by Naruto.

"Good morning, everyone." Minato quietly greeted everybody at the table.

The blonde waved cheerfully while Kagari merely grunted, Miya set down her cup of tea and gave him a warm smile, "Good morning, Minato-san. What will you be doing today?"

The dark haired boy smiled humourlessly, "I have to get all my items moved into the house, so that will probably take me the better part of the day."

"Oh my." Miya glanced at the blonde who appeared to be trying his best to cause an explosion from Kagari with an audacious grin, "Why don't you take Uzumaki-san with you? That good for nothing trash doesn't seem to have anything to do today after all."

"I object, Miya." Naruto playfully replied, abandoning his newest hobby; playing with Kagari's self control until he outed himself in front of Minato, "I do have something to do."

Kagari, seeing his chance to escape, pushed the plate in front of him away and hurriedly stood up, "That was a good meal, thanks for breakfast. I'm going to sleep."

Minato perked up and attempted to get to know his neighbours better, "What do Uzumaki-san and Kagari-san work as?"

"Hmm? We don't really have a job per se. Immortals and aliens like us aren't really good at integrating with society don't you know?" Naruto drawled with a half expectant grin as everybody around the table froze, with the exception of Naruto, Akitsu, Minato and Musubi, Uzume actually began choking on her waffles, unsure if she should laugh or start killing.

Kagari, who had frozen halfway standing up, seriously considered burning Naruto into a crisp right here and now; how the heck did that constitute keeping a secret?

Minato began chuckling shyly, "Aliens and immortals? Good joke Uzumaki-san. But seriously, I'm wondering if you know any place for me to find a job."

Naruto's grin widened further, getting a kick out of Miya's thin lipped glare, "Oh I'm completely serious. Everyone in this house is either and alien or immortal except for y-Grkk!"

The blonde winced when Miya stabbed him under the table with a fork and primly redirected the conversation, "Ignore Uzumaki-san please. He's a little..." Cue another burning glare at the pouting blonde, "_off_, but if it's a job you want, I might know someone."

Everybody watched the dark haired boy thank Miya gratefully with some relief but did not truly relax until he and his Sekirei had hurried off to start moving. The moment they heard the door slamming, Miya turned her glare on the unrepentantly grinning blonde, "What was that for?" she asked him quietly.

The blonde propped himself up on one hand while he affectionately watched Akitsu finsh impassively eating her waffles as if nothing of interest had happened, "He didn't believe me did he?" He pointed with a grin, "There's no better lie than the truth after all, and to answer your earlier question, I'm going to pick up some supplies before shopping for some clothes for Akitsu."

Uzume perked up and she seized the chance to understand the weird blonde better, "Hmm? Shopping? Want me to go with you Nii-chan? Or are you going to pick out Akitsu-chan's panties for her?" she asked with a brazen smile.

Naruto scratched his cheek, he may have been alive for a god damned long time but even he had to admit that grasping the nuances of the female mind in the throes of a shopping fever was far beyond his poor abilities.

Which was... kind of sad if you thought about it.

Anyway, helping a female choose clothes wasn't exactly one of his better skills, not to mention he was pretty sure that having Uzume along to help choose Akitsu's unmentionables would be a complete relief... Making up his mind, he the blonde nodded with a slight blush, "Yeah, thanks. That'll be a real help."

"We will go together." Miya interrupted suddenly before narrowing her eyes at the blonde who had one eyebrow raised. She sniffed disdainfully, "Akitsu-chan is too innocent. You'll definitely take advantage of her."

"Your overwhelming trust in me is touching." The blonde dryly replied as he wearily stood up, "Still if the two of you are coming, why don't you wait here and get ready until I come back. It'll be easier for me to move alone anyway." He ruffled Akitsu's hair like a parent would to a child, "I won't take long, half an hour tops, alright?" He smiled reassuringly at the woman who returned his look with a half lidded stare.

Akitsu jerked her head in a small nod, "...Understood. Be safe, Master."

The moment the sound of his footsteps disappeared and she heard the door close, she began glaring at a nervous Uzume.

By the time Naruto returned home, he was surprised to receive a very warm reception from the girl dressed in a tight shirt with a star imprinted on the front, emphasizing her cleavage. Cleavage that Uzume smushed his face into after jumping on him like a rather unhappy feline.

Warm reception was actually an understatement, Naruto thought to himself as he struggled to peel his face out of the blubbering dark haired girl's rather bountiful chest with a incredibly... profound sense of disappointment in himself. He was a pervert, nay, he was THE pervert, but now really wasn't the time.

Giving up, the blonde walked into the dining hall with Uzume clinging to his head, "What's wrong with her?" he asked in a muffled voice, pointing at the trembling girl on his face.

Miya simply smirked, she found the fact that Akitsu had managed to gain enough self esteem to give her new neighbour a nearly subzero glare for nearly 30 minutes rather... reassuring, "We had a..." She glanced at the almost unnoticeable downturn of Akitsu's lips, "little argument. Are we ready to go?"

"We will when I can breathe again." Naruto muttered.

"Honestly." Miya muttered like an annoyed mother and grabbed the back of Uzume's shirt, peeling the squirming girl off with ease and began dragging her upstairs to change into something a little more appropriate than a very tight shirt.

As the two women went upstairs, Naruto ruffled Akitsu's hair again with a rather wry smile, "Looks like you've developed a rather nasty bite huh?"

Akitsu huffed at her Ashikabi.

******Unwavering Sky******

The rest of the day passed quickly in a blur and Naruto barely remembered what he and the trio of females had done in a shopping centre close to the centre of town.

The bags... the mountains of bags... and the hours of standing, fidgeting outside the changing rooms in the ladies department, waiting for Akitsu to try on the newest thing that Uzume or Miya had picked out for her...

The first time Akitsu had walked out in a pale blue, modified yukata that only came up to her knees and her eyes glinting as she awaited his judgement, the blonde was hard pressed to find somewhere, anywhere _safe _to place his eyes.

Then Uzume had pranced out of the changing room with a devious grin before pulling down the top, "Say, Nii-chan, what do you think of Akitsu's new bra? I picked them especially for you. For future reference, they're a nice G, just a little smaller than mine." She said slyly.

Naruto blinked, shopping begs slipping out his slack fingers, and somehow managed to choke out a strained whisper, "**WHAT** bra?"

Akitsu had proceeded to slowly look down at her twins that were hanging free with a confused look, "Ah... I forgot."

"Where's your bra? I gave you a nice black lacy set didn't I?" The dark haired girl who had tied up her hair in one side ponytail asked Akitsu dumbly as she goggled at Akitsu's cleavage.

The ice user blinked and proceeded to methodically part the front of her skirt, only for Naruto to realize that his cute little Sekirei had apparently gone commando.

"Ah... I forgot."

From that point on, Naruto's brain had fizzled out and he couldn't remember anything else.

Well, it wasn't that he couldn't remember, it was more like he preferred not to, all he knew was that Akitsu had a rather interesting disposition for chains, something that had Miya glaring at him as if it was somehow his fault.

By the time Miya and Uzume had satisfied themselves, it was already too late for lunch and the four members of Izumo Inn found themselves seated at the food court in the shopping centre for a quick bite to eat before they went back.

Sighing, Naruto placed a mountain of bags, worth a grand total of well over 150000 yen for several sets of unmentionables, yukatas and kimonos for all sorts of undecipherable situations (Miya tried to explain that a woman needed the proper Kimono for every occasion, needless to say it went in one ear, and out the other), beside his seat and collapsed into it with a thankful mutter. The weariness slowly bled out of his very body as she slumped; face first, onto the cool plastic table surface.

As their ordered food arrived, Uzume leaned forward with a leer, "Tired already? And here I was, expecting more from you." She tsked smugly, "Such low stamina." Naruto grunted, but mostly ignored the double entendre.

Miya daintily clasped her hands around the cup of steaming black tea, "Speaking of expecting, I was under the impression that you had no funds or documents. I find myself surprised that you could afford all this." She waved at the mountain of bags beside the blonde.

Naruto opened his mouth and was about to reply when he sensed, rather than smelt it. There was a Sekirei nearby who more or less reeked like the black one he had unfortunately encountered at the airport. Just as he tensed, the sound of someone charging towards him, pushing screaming customers out of the way roughly, reached his ears. Without even bothering to look around or leave his seat, he sighed and moved.

He wrapped one arm around the thin girl beside him and waved at the panicking customers all around them, "No need to worry, my cousin here is just a little high strung. She just needs some rest and she'll be just fine." He called out loudly with a cheerful grin.

The pink haired girl drooled, eyes rolled into the back of her head which limply lolled onto his shoulder; Naruto tapped her spine from behind, and her body reflexively nodded along with his wide but strained grin.

And drooled some more.

Miya narrowed her eyes at the newcomer who was unmistakably a Sekirei as she calmly sipped from her cup, mentally re-evaluating the one of the newest tenants of Izumo Inn. While she had indeed sensed the Sekirei earlier than Naruto apparently had, by the time either she, Uzume or Akitsu-chan had managed to even move a finger, the blonde had already dealt with the problem with inhuman speed by reaching out to pinch the nerve clusters behind the Sekirei's neck, sending her into blissful oblivion and pitching forward in a dead faint. Then one his legs had moved, pushing the empty chair beside him out before his fingers hit a series of nerve points too fast for her to see, manipulating her unconscious body into the chair like a puppet before hooking the chair back into place like nothing had happened.

The beautiful landlady doubted that even her old partners could have seen him moving and there was only one other human that Miya knew was capable enough of moving like the enigmatic blonde just did, although she doubted that that the vagabond could achieve the speed, fluidity and grace she had just seen. She already knew that the blonde was familiar with Takehito for some reason; maybe... her ex husband had put him under the same augmentation process...?

Speaking of old partners, she briefly glanced at the drooling girl... rose pink hair tied up into a strict pony tail, thin boxing mitts on each fist and the black kimono like shirt she was wearing identified the slack jawed Sekirei as Number 105, Benitsubasa.

A member of the Disciplinary Squad.

Miya rubbed her temples with a sigh as she felt a headache coming.

Once all the customers had returned to their business, the blonde sighed and released his hold on the pink haired girl, who bonelessly flopped forwards, and tapped the plate in front of him, sending it shooting to the side, just in time to stop her face from hitting the table.

Uzume snorted, desperately trying to stifle giggles at the sight of a feared Disciplinary Squad member flopping face first into a plate of mashed potato with a small, wet splat.

"As I was about to say before I was interrupted, I always make sure I have a series of safe houses and supplies wherever I go, just in case I mess up." The blonde grinned crookedly, "Which is surprisingly often. That's where I get the money from." He gave a disgruntled sigh with a rather tired look on his face, "I miss the days when one could simply go anywhere they wanted. Now they have all sorts of high tech sensors and censuses to keep track of every individual that enter their countries. Even one extra person appearing out of nowhere causes an alarm like nothing else."

The three women just stared at him like he was stupid.

Naruto blinked, "What?" He asked cluelessly; completely ignoring the fact that he had an out cold Sekirei next to him.

Uzume pointed a shaking finger at the pink haired girl who was snoring into a bowl of warm and gooey mashed potatoes, "Do you understand what you just did?"

"The exact same thing I did to you." Naruto dryly pointed out.

"I was drooling?"

The blonde smirked, "A little. I even have a picture if you want."

"You took a picture?" Uzume paused and grinned evilly, "Do you have one of Kagari?"

Miya put down her cup down with a little more force than necessary to catch their attention, "The point being," she stressed lowly, "You just took out a member of the Disciplinary Squad. We should leave before her companions arrive."

Uzume began to sweat a little, "Uh... yeah that's right. Ahahaha."

"You sure we should leave her like this?" He asked with furrowed brows and a concerned glance at the snoring girl, "I mean, she's can't exactly defend herself right now."

Miya stood up, a paler than usual Akitsu a split second behind her, "They already know, they're probably even watching us right now. We should leave; now. A confrontation of any sort at this point in time would be extremely unwise."

Shrugging, the blonde gathered up the bags into his arms, showing none of the whining and weariness that he had displayed earlier and the four of them left the food court silently with a brisk but purposefully unconcerned pace, thought Naruto made sure to take a picture before he left.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Five for Fighting – Superman (It's Not Easy)**

Naruto sighed happily as he sat down, leaning against the wall of the dining hall in Izumo Inn, thankful for finally being able to rest. Cup of hot tea on the table, smoking pipe in hand and warm shelter, life rarely got any better than this for the blonde.

He closed his eyes and deepened his breathing in meditation, focusing his senses.

Kagari was out on his nightly job as usual so his presence was not in the inn, the pounding of footsteps above him told him that Minato had just finished sorting his belongings and was moving towards the dining hall. Miya, Uzume, Musubi and Akitsu was in his room, the rhythm of their footsteps a frantic but energetic symphony, he presumed that they were trying out the new clothes that he had bought, while the last member of the Inn that he had not been introduced to yet was still, watching something that made her breath in a disturbingly heavy manner.

"Uzumaki-san?"

The blonde smiled briefly but did not open his eyes, "Good evening Minato-san. How was your day?"

The sound of Minato's clothes rustling as he took a seat on the other side of the room reached his ears, "Not bad. I finished moving earlier than I expected thanks to Musubi. I'm ready to start working tomorrow as well." The young boy sighed contentedly, "I'm truly thankful to you and Miya-san."

"I'm not sure why you are thankful to me. Miya's the landlady and she's the one that provided you with a job." The blonde commented.

"That's true I suppose." Minato agreed with a confused chuckle, "I guess I'm a little too happy."

Naruto hummed noncommittally as he smoked from the pipe, savouring the acidic burn before blowing a grey wisp of smoke onto the veranda, "You make it sound like you weren't happy before. Were you not satisfied with your life?"

The dark haired boy observed the blonde man meditate in a corner, half on the veranda half in the dining room, silently wondering what to say as he thought over what the question implied. The blonde man was dressed in a casual pair of dark jeans and an orange shirt. The older man was not someone that he would consider good looking; he was scarred, his hair was a spiky mess of golden brush that framed his strong jaw, orange sleeves were rolled back to show strong but scarred arms. The elder man was only a little taller than himself and lean, almost like a dancer.

Rugged was probably the best description he had for the older man.

"I wouldn't go that far I suppose." Minato hedged as he wondered if he could say anything further without letting the blonde know too much about Sekirei, "I was just another ronin struggling to enter New Tokyo University, and I failed for the second time. I was almost ready to give up and go home when I met Musubi."

The blonde nodded and carefully thought over the young man's words, "So you felt like you were adrift, that you were studying only because it was expected from you, but when Musubi appeared, you like you had finally found something else worth doing? Something that you yourself wanted." The blonde paused for a second as the image of a young, overly loud blonde boy flashed in his mind's eye, "Something that set you apart from all the other failures."

Minato blinked, he... hadn't actually thought of it that way. Chuckling lightly, he nodded, "Ye-yeah, I guess."

A misty haze escaped the blonde's lips, swirling in the air. Minato was shaken to almost see a hazy image appearing in them; a washed out image of his first meeting with Musubi.

"Do not guess. Do." Naruto firmly reprimanded the dark haired boy, "You chose this path; at least have the fortitude to see it to the end. In the future, you may look back and realize that it was the wrong path and take another branch, but in the end, it was your path and there is no backtracking. Musubi may have started you on this path, but in the end, you are the one walking."

A cynical grin twisted his thin lips.

Minato nodded with silent, jerky movements forgetting that the blonde probably couldn't see it, shaken as he was by the blonde's words and the impossible image he had just seen. For just a moment, the blonde sitting in the corner looked almost... inhuman and ephemeral.

Then the door shifted open and the moment was broken as four very feminine figures walked in, modelling new yukatas for the benefit of the two males.

Naruto bit his lips as he took in the sight of his landlady and his Sekirei, dressed in incredibly form fitting Kimonos that he had paid for. The pale blue kimono patterned with snowflakes, cutting off abruptly mid thigh in a flare flattered Akitsu;s long legs. The top was open, held together by crisscrossing chains, showed off her snow white shoulders. Her pale brown hair with white highlights had been lengthened and modelled into a tight bun with braids encircling it, leaving a few bangs to frame her heart shaped face.

On her left, arm wrapped around Akitsu was Miya, dressed in a full length pinkish white kimono. Though it was unpatterned, the cloth was cut enough to emphasize her maturity and give her a firm motherly air that she wore like a queenly mantle. Her own hair was pinned into a bun, similar to Akitsu's only longer, casual strands hanging down her face displaying a snow white neck that had her blonde tenant gulping audibly.

"Neh, Nii-chan," Uzume leaned forward with a leer at her dumbfounded male neighbours, her cleavage straining against the violet kimono, a ruby coloured pin holding her hair up in a bun, "You like what you see?"

The younger and more inexperienced one nodded frantically, his eyes stuck on a cheering Musubi, bouncing up and down in a dark pink Kimono that Miya had forced Naruto to buy. The blonde, distracted as he was, wasn't entirely sure if Minato was honestly appreciating his Sekirei as a whole, or just staring at her bouncing jugs.

Alhough judging by the way his pupils kept... bouncing, he'd wager on the latter.

Uzume pouted, "Well? Say something!" she demanded.

Minato just sounded like he had swallowed his tongue, though that was arguably better than Naruto how fared in hindsight.

The blonde choked back the first thing that came into his muddled brain with an amazing feat of willpower, a phrase that was probably very flattering but equally impolite and completely inappropriate, so he went with the second thing that had entered his head.

Pointing dumbly at Miya and Akitsu's new hairstyle, he spoke, "Klexmus!"

"Whaaat?"

Naruto swallowed and tried again, "Christmas Cake!" he said proudly.

Cue Akitsu's foot to his face while Miya punched him in the gut with all her strength.

"**GEHOH!"**

******Unwavering Sky******


	5. This Is Who I Am

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 5**

This Is Who I Am

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is. **

**Soundtrack List**

Two Steps from Hell – Am I Not Human?

Naruto Shippuden OST - Ochihabune

Angel Beats OST – Ichiban No Takaramono – Yui Final Ver –

******Unwavering Sky******

_A tall man, a few inches taller than average height of most Japanese men ran one hand through the sunshine yellow bristles that were streaked with grey on the crown of his head before rapping on the wooden door with his knuckles. _

"_Hai hai~" two young and cheerful voices sounded from within, muffled by the wooden door before he heard the sounds of pattering feet. _

_The wooden portal was pulled open by two widely smiling girls that barely came up to his middle. The one towards his left had shoulder length pale pink hair and was dressed in a white sun dress, whereas the one on his right had powder blue tied into two pony tails, long enough to reach the back of her knees, in contrast with her sister, this one wore a tight black costume that reminded him of a little devil. _

_The tall man smiled warmly, "Maru, Moro." He lifted the package in his free hand and dangled it in front of their faces, "I brought something for you."_

_The two of them leaned forward and sniffed at the sack, their eyes widened and the two of them began dancing around the tall man._

"_Yay! Kinpatsu-sama brought snacks!" The pink one cheered._

"_Yay! Hige-sama brought snacks!" her sister cheered as well, both of them hugged him fondly, before grabbing the bag together and ran deeper into the home with the blonde man following behind at a more sedate pace. _

_They stopped at the end of the dark corridor, intoning the same thing at the same time, "Mistress is waiting for you."_

_The man waved, his steps as confident as if it the quaint two floored mansion was his own home, "I know the way. You two can go eat first, don't forget to leave some for your Mistress as well."_

"_Arigato Hige/Kinpatsu-sama!" He grinned as the two young girls happily pattered away_

_He stopped in front of a pair of shojis and opened them with a flourish, "You really need to install a few lights around the place. The place is like a damned haunted mansion."_

_The black haired woman lounging indolently on her own version of a throne gave him a dry look, "We don't meet for ages and the first thing you do is complain about the lighting?"_

"_It's only been a year." The blonde pointed out as he took a seat._

"_It's already been that long?" The beautiful woman in flamboyantly coloured kimono sat upright with a genuinely surprised look on her face before leaning forward with an interested smirk, "So? How did it go, did the boy like my advice?"_

_The blonde gave her a sour look and pushed her face away from him as he began pulling out some equipment out of thin air, "Did I ever tell you how much I dislike children? Nasty, little noisemakers."_

"_Uhuh…." The raven haired woman gave him a knowing look as she drawled a response, far too used to his antics to bother arguing._

_The blonde simply glared at her as he filled up their pipes with some special tobacco he had brought before handing her gold kiseru pipe back to her._

"_He's alright." The blonde replied rather shortly before his expression lightened, "He even brought friends over last week. Never seen the kid so happy before," the tall man paused for another breath of tobacco with a dry grin, "Though he really needs some lessons in learning how to deal with women. The girl he brought home ran out of the house screaming like a mad woman when he was dumb enough to show off his snake collection." _

_The blonde chuckled, "The look on his face when she went bat shit crazy was priceless."_

_She began chuckling as well; despite the blonde's gruff and curt mannerisms, she could sense the pride in his words, "You never were very good at using words to express your thoughts anyway, but it seems like everything went well."_

"_Knowing how to use words never really seemed useful for me until I was older, like way waaay older, too refined for a barbarian like me," The blonde admitted sheepishly, "Until I realized that going ape shit on whatever is bothering me at the time usually just creates more problems, like the huge ass craters I leave behind."_

_She blew out a cloud of smoke, savouring the flavour of the rare Middle Eastern tobacco, "That's your problem. Then again, it's not exactly easy to explain bonds the way people like us see it."_

_The blonde hummed dryly in response as he pulled out a golden cage from empty air, "Your payment by the way."_

_His acquaintance grinned widely and accepted the golden cage just as the shoji opened again, "Ah, Watanuki. You're just in time," She lifted up the cage with a smile, "Take this to the storeroom please." She grinned impudently, "Oh and please bring us some sake."_

_The dark haired boy standing in the entrance frowned at the lazing woman before setting down the platter of finger foods for the progressively stoned adults, "It's still early in the morning and you're already drinking?"_

"_Aww, don't be such a killjoy." The beautiful lady pouted at the younger man, "Pretty please?"_

_The brown haired boy took the golden cage from his employer with furrowed brows, "No. If you want it, then you're going to have to get it yourself." He turned to the amused blonde watching the two of them, "I'm truly sorry about the lack of hospitality, but I really must leave. School is starting soon."_

_Ignoring the greeting from the boy, one thin eyebrow lazily rose in the direction of the grinning woman, "Is this him?"_

_The lady, whose long black and glossy hair spilled all over her seat simply smiled mysteriously, causing the blonde to sigh and stand up, turning to give her employee a small nod, "It's alright. I was leaving soon anyway." The blonde pushed the box filled with dried tobacco leaves towards the lounging woman, "Here. You can keep it. Think of it as a gift."_

"_Hmmm…. How kind of you," She stood up and stepped forward, her long hair almost trailing on the ground behind her, she looked up at the man's scarred face, internally marvelling at how tall he was. _

_Not in a physical sense, but there was something that always made her friend seem so indomitable and distant, "But you know I can't accept that. In return I'll give you another piece of advice." Grinning, the woman leaned forward with a knowing smile and whispered into his ear, her long black hair tickling his cheek, "You can act like a lovable joker all you like, Isana, but it won't make a damned difference until the day you actually let someone in."_

_The blonde simply smiled ruefully and gathered the woman into his arms in a gentle hug, a hug that the woman returned with a warm smile, "I'll keep that in mind." _

_Letting go, he eyed her waist critically, "You've gained weight, Yuuko."_

_Jet black eyes glared at him, "I think you need those lessons about dealing with women more than your boy does, it's impolite to speak to a woman about her weight." She retorted scornfully before grinning at the wide eyed boy behind them, "Besides, Watanuki makes the best Kitsune Ramen."_

"_Oh? I'll have to try some the next time I visit." He stepped back and bowed extravagantly with a grin that crinkled his eyes like a fox, "Until then, Watanuki-san, Yuuko." _

_Before his very eyes, the grinning blonde with grey streaks in his hair shimmered and faded away, the last thing to go were dancing blue flames where his eyes were supposed to be. He gulped, "Who was that? He wasn't a normal spirit, or at least not the kind that usually visits you."_

_The smile she shot him was almost vampiric as she made a mental check about her employee's developing abilities as she slid one finger along the kiseru pipe, "Hoh…. You could tell?_

_When her apprentice of sorts nodded shakily, the black haired woman smiled and took a lazy breath on her pipe, "You could call Isana a friend. You could even call him an enemy."_

_The dark haired boy blinked, "Enemy?" His boss sure as hell didn't treat the weird blonde like an enemy, if anything; she treated him like he was an equal and a valued friend. That alone meant a lot._

_For as long as they had been together, he had never seen the dark haired lady treat anyone like an equal no matter how casual she acted with the people she interacted with. It was not that she shunned physical contact, but she was never affectionate, there was always a sense of distance, of overwhelming respect that she subconsciously demanded from people around her. _

"_Well, sort off." Yuuko flicked the pipe in her hand and grinned at him lazily, "Think of him as my polar opposite, my anti-thesis in terms of philosophy and methods. As a result, his very presence causes this shop to destabilize, that's why he can only visit me once a year. Our duties cause us to clash often, but outside of that, we're pretty good drinking buddies." She smiled sheepishly, "He is probably the only one that can outdrink both me and Mokona combined." _

_Watanuki blinked and began ranting, "Is drinking all you can think off?!"_

_Yuuko leaned back into her seat with a smile, before cutting his rant off with a question, "Neh, Watanuki?"_

"_What is it?" _

"_Do you know what True Peace is?"_

_Her employee replied with a mildly perplexed expression at the non-sequitur, "No….?"_

_Her lips curled into a vaguely sad smile, "Well, neither does he."_

******Unwavering Sky******

A blank faced Akitsu slowly sat up from her futon and drew her comforter around her body. She was too confused to sleep. The pale haired woman fidgeted in her futon as she stared at the root of all her problems and all her happiness, her Master, who was currently lightly snoring on the other side of the room in his own futon. The problem was that unsure of exactly why she had reacted so badly to Naruto's words, unlike how she usually held herself. She lived for her Master, that was all, yet she had done something aggressive to him. The same could be said for earlier this afternoon, when Uzume-san had taken away her chance for some time alone with her Master. All she knew was that a really... uneasy heat had erupted in her chest, and she couldn't help but glare at the more outgoing Sekirei, in her own small way.

It had been really satisfying to see the brown hair girl crumple under her stare.

Her life in the labs had been a simple, if lonely one. Day in, day out, all she had to do was go where the impassive man in the white shirt asked her to, and lie down on a cold steel table while they stuck small needles and syringes into her arm. Sometimes they injected something other times they drew blood. Sometime about antibodies and immunities; they had tried explaining to her, but she didn't really get it. Any free time she could get was spent watching educational videos provided by MBI or reading books and walking along grey steel corridors.

It was a bland life, it was simple and it wasn't complicated. All she had to do was go where they pointed and do what they asked her to.

Then her Master literally dropped into her life and offered her a spot by his side. She hugged her knees tighter to her chest as a funny warmth filled her chest at the thought of him.

He had told her to do whatever she wanted; let her pick her own clothes. She wanted his approval; that was the way that she thought relationships between Ashikabis and Sekirei worked, yet all he would do was smile and nod noncommittally, waiting for her to make her own decisions, only passing judgement once she had. She had even gathered all her courage and picked the most radical accessory she could find, a set of chains with a bell in the middle.

Her Master had smiled and said it suited her, that as long as she liked it, it would always look good on her.

Then that pink haired woman had attacked. Everything she had read so far, everything she had been told about Ashikabis and the Sekirei Plan was that Sekireis had to fight with other Sekireis and protect their Ashikabis. Akitsu didn't really think that the rules applied to her because she was broken, but she liked to think it would.

Nowhere in the manual or videos was **anything** said about an Ashikabi fighting alongside their Sekireis.

Yet that was exactly what her Master had done, and he did it with flair to boot.

She actually kind of pitied that pink haired girl; a fight actually implied she had a chance to win.

She wanted to be angry with him because he moved before she could, because he denied her, her responsibility as a Sekirei.

But she couldn't because she was too busy feeling proud of him.

Life was complicated, but... it felt really fulfilling now, as she watched the snoozing blonde.

Even after she and the landlady had tried their very best to knock him out, the blonde had promptly bounced back up. At the time, she had fallen into shock that she had hit her Master, actually hit him, and had expected him to reprimand her.

Naturally he did absolutely nothing of the sort.

He argued with Miya-san, teased her about getting old and was chased around the house. Anybody else would have been scared shitless as they were chased by that crazy floating apparition of a Hannya mask, she knew she was. Even if she had just been watching it.

Naturally he did absolutely nothing of the sort.

Her Master laughed and teased the raging purple haired woman some more, something about getting wrinkly.

When the landlady had finally calmed down thanks to Kagari-san, Master had sat down beside her and ruffled her hair, with a warm approving smile.

He wasn't angry like he was supposed to be.

Life was complicated now, so many contradicting feelings and thoughts, but it was fulfilling.

"Ah..." she rubbed her eyes, "Sleepy."

Without thinking too much, she quietly crawled over towards the blonde's futon and burrowed under his blanket. She nuzzled against his chest and sighed contentedly. Akitsu stiffened, when the blonde, as if reacting to her presence wound his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Eeep."

Her face was redder than it had ever been, and considering whom she was, that was saying a lot.

It was so warm. So very, very warm.

Naturally she didn't get to sleep until it was very late.

******Unwavering Sky******

Naruto quietly groaned; paedophile or not, every man had his limits and when he had found Akitsu asleep on his chest, nuzzling his chest every few minutes while she straddled his leg, he realized his limit wasn't really that far off.

Especially since she apparently wasn't wearing panties.

She was doing this on purpose wasn't she?

"Oooi... Akitsu..." he gently shook the woman in his arms, "Wake up. It's morning already."

The ice woman stirred slightly and looked up with a sleepy expression, well, sleepier than how she usually looked anyway. She smiled and nuzzled the crook of his neck.

Then she went right back to sleep if her tiny snores were any indication.

He heaved a sigh, he was getting hungry. Gently, he pushed her off and quietly snuck out of the room so that he didn't disturb her rest, "Ara, good morning Uzumaki-san." The speaker leaned to the side and peered into his room, "Akitsu-san isn't awake yet?"

"I think you could at least call me Naruto if we're going to stay in the same house for the foreseeable future isn't it?" the blonde dryly replied as he shrugged on a jacket to protect himself from the cold weather, "And no, she isn't awake. Weird, I thought she went to sleep the same time as me."

Miya smiled sweetly and a dark aura solidified into a Hannya mask behind her as she masked her evil grin, "Ufufufu, are you sure you didn't do anything... bad to her that would make her so tired?"

Naruto gave his landlady a dry look as he lifted one hand and pulled back one finger, "I may overly appreciate femininity, but even I draw the line at something like that." He dispersed the mask with a single forehead flick and a piercing stare, "A lady's virtue is not something to joke about."

He yawned widely and began walking without even looking back at the stunned lady, "What's for breakfast by the way?"

Miya coughed behind her sleeve a little, the question jolting her back to reality, "Ah. Just something simple because Minato-san has to get ready for work in a hurry. What will you be doing today?"

The blonde hummed as he descended the stairs and entered the dining hall with Miya trailing behind him, "Dunno." He grinned, "Maybe I'll go find a job or something. Sure beats sitting around the house."

Kagari looked up with one eyebrow raised, "You? Find a job? Who would accept a brute like you?"

The blonde ignored the jab and leered at the silver haired man, "Who knows. Maybe I'll try to find a job at MBI?"

Kagari laughed, "As what? The janitor?"

Naruto turned his nose into the air as he took a seat, "I'll have you know that no firm is complete without a janitor." He said with exaggerated gestures, "A janitor is what keeps the company clean and running you know."

"Forget it. All you would do is flip skirts and get fired."

The blonde laughed, "So that's what you spend your time doing as a host huh? Here I was thinking that you were only interested in trousers."

Kagari spluttered as Minato grinned shyly, "Is that why Yasaka is so enthralled by you, Kagari-san?"

Everybody at the table starred at the boy in surprise, the blonde didn't really know who this Yasaka in question was but he went with it anyway, pointing at the shy brown haired boy with a trembling finger he spoke, "Oh my god! His balls finally dropped enough to tease someone, took them long enough though." He paused for a beat and cried comical tears at Miya, "I'm so proud, isn't that right, Kaa-san? Tonight we should have red rice."

Miya hit him over the head with a ladle, "Who the hell are you calling Kaa-san?" Then in a complete turnabout, she shot a rather impish grin at the blushing young man, "But red rice does sound like a good idea doesn't it?"

Minato gave the purple haired lady who was hiding her smile behind her sleeve a rather horrified look, "Not you too, Miya-san!"

"Mah, mah, if you want to tease someone, you have to learn how to take it too. Just make sure you take it up in the right... **place**." Naruto gave Kagari a pointed look and a smirk, "Unlike him."

The ceramic cup cracked in his hands cracked while the blonde smirked.

At the head of the table Miya simply smiled, ever since Takehito had passed away, she knew that Izumo Inn had rarely been as lively as it was now and it had pained her. It had been obvious to her for a while now that the blonde was attempting to draw Minato, Kagari and Akitsu out of their respective shells by acting like a lovable pervert, something that she was more than content to just sit back and watch as it happened.

Their hilarious facial expressions, an extremely flustered Kagari and a brightly blushing Minato, had nothing to do with it.

Nope, nothing at all.

******Unwavering Sky******

Kagari felt his cheeks heat up as he glared at the blonde walking beside him in a carefree manner with his hands in his pockets, "What are you doing following me for? Weren't you going to find a job?" He ducked into an alley without waiting for a reply and leapt up onto a railing.

"Hmmm... I was just curious. I wanted to see what the situation in New Tokyo was like and all that. I figured that following you would be my best shot." A lazy voice replied from behind him, causing the silver haired man to jump with one fist clutching his heart in shock.

"You!" He pointed one shaky finger at the blonde who was leaning on the wall with his black faced Sekirei beside him, "How did you get up here before I did!?"

"I jumped." Naruto deadpanned before making some shooing motions at him, "Now hurry up. I want to see what a real Sekirei battle is like, chop, chop."

Kagari groaned behind his black mask, was there no way to lose the infuriating blonde? No matter how much he sped up, the blonde followed with ease while Akitsu wasn't even sweating.

"How did you even know what I was doing?! Besides weren't you going to find a job?!" He demanded as the trio leapt from roof to roof. He tried very hard not to wonder how the blonde could follow them with such ease, very, very hard.

"Humph. Half the time you claim to be going to bed, you're not even in the Inn and whenever you come back, you smell like smoke and burnt flesh. You don't seem like the type to attack people out of malice so it didn't take me long to figure out what you were doing." The blonde replied in an easy tone, "Besides, who says I'm not already hired?"

The silver haired man stared at him like he was crazy, "Huh? What are you even talking about? How can you be hired by anybody if you haven't even left my line of sight since this morning?"

The blonde smiled mysteriously, "Magic. I can be in more than one place at the same time."

Sighing again, Kagari replied with some heat in his voice, "Whatever, if you don't want to be honest then don't. Just don't mess up my rhythm."

**Play** **Two Steps from Hell – Am I Not Human?**

The blonde hummed, "If you say so. By the way," He sniffed the air around them, "There's a Sekirei around us in distress. Fear mixed with incense." He pointed somewhere vaguely Southwards, "Somewhere around there behind that large department store."

The masked man narrowed his eyes at the blonde, his particular ability to sniff out Sekirei sounded far too good to be true, and if he brought the blonde along, that aforementioned ability might offset his annoying attitude.

If he could save more Sekirei from being unwillingly winged or needlessly hurt, he would sacrifice anything.

Kagari swallowed his distaste for the blonde, "Alright. Lead the way." He gritted his teeth as the blonde watched him with an expectant smile; "Please?" he bit out.

Naruto smiled and patted his shoulder in a friendly manner, leaping away before Kagari could brush his hand away.

"I'm curious." The blonde made a confused expression and spoke as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop towards the garishly coloured building, "Is there a rule against Sekireis attacking normal humans?"

Kagari nodded tersely, "We're not supposed to harm humans if we can help it, and it's almost indoctrinated into our mindsets though most of us can ignore it if the need is strong. That's why this has become such a problem; many of the more despicable Ashikabis or humans can use force to wing a Sekirei since most of them, and once they do, a Sekirei is permanently stuck with them forever regardless of her feelings,"

Kagari could not see it, but the blonde in front of him had gone stone faced with a snarl etched onto his lips, "Especially those are just recently released and inexperienced ones who are unwilling to retaliate for fear of injuring them too much." He briefly glanced at the narrowed eyes of the blonde, "Why?"

"The ones attacking this particular Sekirei are humans; I can smell the lust dripping off of them. So I was wondering why she or he hasn't fought back or escaped yet." Naruto ducked under a balustrade and vaulted onto the last rooftop with cat like grace, "Judging by the way you speak about releasing Sekireis, I'm assuming that they cost a lot to take care of and maintain, so why doesn't MBI have a better governance structure in place to prevent what amounts to rape?"

Kagari hesitated for a moment, he hadn't actually thought of forced wingings in that manner before, but now that the blonde had brought it up, they really sounded like they were tantamount to rape, in front of him the blonde got faster and faster as he spoke, "Sounds rather stupid for them to dump a highly sensitive asset onto the streets without monitoring them strictly, especially with effort they put into making themselves out to seem all powerful and all knowing."

"Who knows how those idiots work." Kagari grunted in response as he peered down into the indicated alley. It was a sheer 20 foot drop and he narrowed his eyes when he saw a group of well dressed men that smelled like expensive alcohol, tobacco and some sort of powder that made his nose itch, surrounding a stone faced girl who was backed against the dirty wall.

Just as Kagari was about to leap down, a muscled hand stopped him, "What are you doing, Naruto?" he hissed angrily.

His anger came to an abrupt halt as Naruto returned his hiss with a feral snarl; red eyes rooting the fire user to the spot, a tightly controlled bubble filled with visibly roiling red energy that slowly solidified into a gaping jaw filled with fangs, blood dripping from them, **"I don't care if the Creator himself comes down to stop me, but if there's one thing I cannot condone, its rape, be it Sekirei or human."**

The thin man hesitated but pushed onwards anyway, "The-then why are you stopping us from helping her?"

"**I want to make sure."** Ruby eyes that burned like the flames of hell flickered downwards, **"They seem like rich kids out for some fun."**

"So?"

As the first boy, a young dark haired man dressed in a coat leaned forward to touch the Sekirei, Kagari took a shaken step backwards in as Naruto smiled.

It was the kind of smile Death would make when he came for you.

Without another word, the human leapt off the edge, clothes rustling in freefall before landing with a loud slam, cracking the concrete beneath his crouched feet, right in front of the circle of young men who had stumbled a few steps back.

Purple pupils dilated as they surveyed the broad shoulders in front of them, and the Sekirei leapt forward, driven by feral instinct. Without a word, Naruto knocked her unconscious and threw her onto his shoulders.

"W-Who are you?"

Black and ruby flames intertwined as Naruto turned to stare at the speaker, the leader of the circle of young men, **"What were you going to do to her?"**

They staggered backwards a few steps at the malice that was practically pouring off the strange man, "Wha-what is it to you? We were just going to have some fun that's all!"

"It's her fault for coming onto us!" another yelled.

When the blonde began to step towards them, the leader, a black haired young man in a dark blue suit, clicked his tongue and turned around, "If you want her so badly, you can have her. Bet she lays like dead fish anyway. Come on, let's go."

Warily, the group started to leave when clawed fingers closed around the black haired man's face, **"You don't get to choose. You lost that right when you decided that your money would let you rape someone and get away with it."**

The clawed hand squeezed and lifted the screaming man off his feet, **"Don't worry, I don't kill. Be thankful."**

Kagari wanted to help. He really did, but his knees were wobbling like jelly and he blanched at the screams emanating from the alley.

Akitsu stood firmly beside him, but even she was rapidly paling.

By the time the last screams had ended, the visible portions of Kagari's face had turned into a strange greenish white as he watched a blood splattered Naruto scale the wall with ease and a satisfied smile.

A smile that dropped when he saw how frightened the two of them were of him. Silently, he carefully lowered the unconscious Sekirei, dressed in a fashion similar to Musubi; like a shrine maiden with long grey hair tied with a ribbon, beside a shaking Kagari whose phone was ringing.

The silver haired man flinched away from him, causing the blonde's lips to thin, "You should take care of her until she awakes." He quietly murmured before retreating behind an air ventilator to change out of his blood splattered clothes.

When a clean Naruto walked back out, dressed in a simple white shirt and blue slacks, he noticed that Kagari and Akitsu had at least stopped trembling at his very sight. Kagari snapped his phone close, "There's a problem at the Tokyo Park. There's a scared Sekirei there. That bastard Minaka sent out a message containing her location to every Ashikabi in New Tokyo and urging them to wing her. I need to protect her." He quietly muttered, but loud enough for the sombre Naruto to hear it.

The blonde wasn't sure about the circumstances but nodded, trusting the fire user to know what he was doing, he gestured at the snoring grey haired girl, "What about her? We can't just leave her here."

Kagari gave the blonde a hesitant glance before lifting her up with a bridal carry and leaping away without another word.

******Unwavering Sky******

"Looks like someone hasn't shaved in a while." Naruto muttered as he critically looked over the overgrown park from underneath the shade of a balcony.

Akitsu watched her Ashikabi's slouched profile from behind before she forcefully gathered up all her courage again and stepped forward, "Are you sure this is fine, Naruto-sama?"

"Humm? Naruto gave her a perplexed look as he leaned backwards onto the railing, "What do you mean?"

**Play** **Naruto Shippuden OST – Ochihabune**

Akitsu methodically considered every word before speaking in her usual monotone, "...Don't you want to go and help? You reacted... badly when something similar to this happened earlier."

"There's no need." He scratched his cheek as he considered the question, "Kagari is there and so is Minato. I don't think I really need to go. Do **you** want to go and help?" he questioned the impassive woman.

"My place is by my Ashikabi." She replied without hesitation though the way her eyes flickered towards the park every few moments was not missed by the age old warrior.

"It's alright you know. I'll just wait here."

Akitsu shook her head furiously and struggled to express her thoughts as fluently as her limited understanding of emotions allowed her, "Tha-that's not it... Every Sekirei can feel what their Ashikabi is feeling..." She hesitated; the fear that she had said too much, that she had been too presumptuous warred within her but forced herself forward.

It was the most she had spoke at any one time, "I am broken but right now so it should not be possible but I believe... I can feel that Naruto-sama is afraid. You are afraid that if you let me go, I won't return because I fear you."

He stiffened.

She stepped closer to the blonde and wrapped her arms around his waist, "I used to think that being broken is bad. But right now I am thankful for it. This is who I am. If I wasn't broken, I wouldn't have met you, I wouldn't have become yours... I am not afraid of you Naruto-sama. Just like you accepted my flaws, I accept **yours**." she quietly reaffirmed his vow.

The blonde silently returned the gentle hug with shaking arms, "What do **you **want to do Akitsu?" He quietly questioned once more.

She looked up into his weary eyes and slowly leaned in and their lips touched. She was incomplete, and she did not know how a proper Sekirei would have felt or reacted, but she poured every single, confused feeling in her chest into her lips.

There was no miraculous flare of light or wings, but the warmth; she did not think that the warmth that filled her chest was any less powerful than a true winging.

She separated from the chaste kiss, "I want to stay by your side. But I because I cannot be winged, I know how important it is to a Sekirei. The power to chase away that envy, the pain and the loneliness. I want to protect the love they have for their Ashikabi, Naruto-sama, just like you did for that Sekirei."

"I'll be here when you come back."

"Thank you... Naruto-sama."

As the world weary individual watched the beautiful Sekirei leapt away, powder blue Kimono fluttering in the wind and salty tracks stained his scarred cheeks, he smiled.

"Ah. I'll be right here."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play ****Angel Beats OST – Ichiban No Takaramono – Yui Final Ver –**

"Seo." Hikari inched closer to her Ashikabi, "We should leave. There's nothing left anyway. The Green Girl already chose her Ashikabi."

The unshaven man who she was speaking to, Seo Kaoru, grinned and roughly pulled both of his Sekirei into his embrace, and promptly began to molest them with inappropriately placed hands, "Meh, why not stay a while." His chin jutted out in the direction of where Musubi was currently fighting Yomi, "After all, we get to watch some free entertainment."

Hibiki shook her head, "That's not it. The sky is... weird."

Seo who had been watching the fight intently blinked at his Sekirei in confusion just as Musubi pulled off Yomi's clothes with one hand and darted forward to place a finger on the exposed crest the back of Yomi's neck, "Huh?" He looked up to see the sky darkening.

Musubi grinned in triumph, "Fist of my contract... Break my Ashi-KYAH!"She never got to finish her Norito as a massive spire of ice exploded out of the ground, a clear wall of ice separating her from the sadistic pervert Sekirei as she called her.

Hikari and Hibiki tensed and moved into their ready positions.

Seo and Minato looked upinto the sky in confusion as it began snowing, "...Snow? In April?" the older man muttered.

"Seo, get behind us!" The Lightning Sekirei uttered as she eyed the trees around her with apprehension, the ground and the trees were slowly turning into ice by the encroaching whiteness, white mist rose from the ground and Minato could see his breath forming in the cold air.

The slowly advancing wall of whiteness was accompanied by the measured tinkle of a bell. One step, one bell tinkle.

"There!" Musubi called out, "Another Sekirei!"

Minato watched in surprise as the woman he recognized as Akitsu slowly appeared out of the white snow with an expressionless face, Sekirei crest proudly displayed on her forehead and the small golden bell on her neck ringing with each slow and measured step.

"Hikari!" the Lightning Sekirei nodded and stepped forward in sync with her sister, the Thunder Sekirei, together both of them unleashed a torrent of electricity at the stoic Scrapped Number.

Another ice wall rose out of the ground and intercepted the blast, although the pale haired woman barely even gave them a glance, "I am not here for you." She quietly chastised the twins.

Minato tightened his hold on the shivering blonde girl in his arms, was she here for Kuu-chan? It seemed likely. However, to his surprise, Akitsu ignored him and Musubi completely as she headed towards the naked Yomi.

Gently kneeling besides the trembling Sekirei, she grasped her hand, "... Do you love your Ashikabi?"

The question surprised everyone in the clearing, especially the one being asked.

"Wha-what?"

"Do you love your Ashikabi?" Akitsu gently reiterated her question.

"This has nothing to do with that." Yomi growled at the pale haired beauty in the blue kimono.

Akitsu on her part simply ignored everyone else watching the strange scene and continued to stare at the dark haired Sekirei, waiting for a proper answer until Yomi grudgingly relented with a blush, "Alright, alright, you crazy woman. I love him. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Does he love you back?"

Yomi bowed her head and shook it in the negative.

Gently, Akitsu lifted her face and peered into her eyes, "Can you make him love you back?"

"Hu-uh?"

There was no hint of doubt in her voice as the ice user replied, "A Sekirei's most important thing is her Ashikabi, the stronger the bond they have, the stronger they will be. Now answer me, are you confident that he can love you back?"

Unsure of where the conversation was leading, Yomi slowly and warily nodded.

Akitsu accepted the response with a gentle nod before standing up to face the others gathered in the clearing.

Musubi, Hibiki and Hikari tensed for another fight only to be disappointed when Akitsu bowed, "I understand that the person behind me has wronged you. But I ask, will you be willing to allow her to stay with her Ashikabi?"

Musubi the ever energetic was the first to gather her wits and pumped her fist in the air without any hesitation in her own cheerful way, "Of course! The love between a Sekirei and her Ashikabi is the most important thing in the world!"

"Oi, oi! She just attacked you and your Ashikabi, you really going to let he-mmph" Whatever Hibiki was going to say was stopped when Seo muffled her lips with one hand, grinning he jerked his head at Minato, "What do you think, boy? It's your fight after all."

The brown haired boy bit his lips; he was reluctant to allow someone as sadistic as number 43 loose when they had her.

"Nii-chan... let her go."

He looked down into Kusano's wide green compassionate eyes. Losing all doubt, the ronin nodded at Akitsu.

For her part, Akitsu simply bowed again in thanks and helped the shaking Yomi up, before leading the girl out of the white forest, leaving a very surprised group of Sekireis and Ashikabis.

"Well... that was new... I don't think anyone ever tried doing something like that yet." Seo muttered quietly, "Wonder who she belongs to."

Up in the tops of the frozen branches of the white forest, two figures watched everything that had happened. The taller figure laid a hand on the shorter man's shoulder, a gruff whisper sounded in his ear, "I know that your Ashikabi is young and impulsive, but remind him that Sekirei's are not toys. They have feelings and thoughts as well. Let him know that if I find out that he has forcefully winged more Sekireis, **he can run and he can hide. But I will find him and when I do,** **even Death will be preferable to what I will do to him, regardless of how old he is. There is only so much that the stupidity of youth can excuse."**

Mutsu shakily nodded as much as his frozen body would allow him.

The shadow behind him grabbed his shoulder and before he knew it, the two of them were at the entrance of the park. Another tap on the spine allowed him to move again, but when he whirled around to confront the shadow, there was nothing but empty space.

"Mutsu?" a weak voice called out.

Cursing under his breath, the fifth Sekirei turned around to see Yomi slowly limping out of the park helped by the impassive snow Sekirei, tearing off his jacket; he threw it around Yomi's shoulder and silently nodded to the familiar blue eyed Sekirei in thanks.

He knew that failing to achieve Hayato's goals was disappointing, but survivable; attacking this particular Sekirei in an attempt to suss out her Ashikabi was definitely not.

More so because that shadow had somehow grabbed him from inside Hayato's limousine without any warning whatsoever. And the worst part was that he had been completely helpless throughout the entire debacle, unable to even move a single muscle to defend himself from the shadow.

Akitsu watched the two Sekirei's leave before surveying the area around her. Once she was sure that no one was watching, the ice user leapt into the sky, back towards where she knew her Ashikabi was waiting.

******Unwavering Sky******

"Is she alright?" Miya asked the blonde worriedly. He had come home, dressed in different clothes, carrying an unconscious Akitsu in a bridal carry and had not replied to her questions until the sleeping Akitsu was safely ensconced within her futon.

"She's alright... She's just exhausted. I think that she never had to use her powers on that kind of scale before." The blonde muttered, remembering the park. It had been nearly 1 mile in circumference, with Minato and Kusano in the middle and by the time Akitsu was done, the entire landscape had been changed into a frozen sphere of white trees and foliage; a circle of blinding whiteness in the midst of New Tokyo.

"What was it that required her to expend so much power?" Miya quietly asked.

Naruto gave her a tired but crooked grin, "It's a little complicated. I'll tell you tomorrow but at the moment, I have much I need to think about as well. For now, we should get ready. We're going to have a new tenant soon."

Miya quirked a curious eyebrow at the blonde who refused to give her a straight answer until she heard the main door opening, sighing she acquiesced to his request, "Very well."

Naruto fell into step beside Miya and couldn't help but grin when she froze at the sight of Musubi and Minato with a sleeping Kusano on his back. Her lips tinned until they were barely a line, "Minato-san? I always knew you were a pervert... but children?" Her katana came out of its scabbard along with her trademark Hannya's mask, "Would you mind explaining before I start hurting you?"

Minato began sweating buckets, "Eh... uhmmmm..."

Behind Miya, Naruto started dialling on the phone, "Hello? 110? We have a crime right now."

"GYAHH! It's a misunderstanding!"

******Unwavering Sky******

Naruto yawned widely as he woke up from a refreshing sleep. After Minato had frantically made up an excuse, the tenants of Izumo Inn had had a simple dinner before retiring to an early night after all the excitement, him included. The stilted atmosphere between him and Kagari could not have been more obvious much to Minato's confusion and Miya's curiosity. But the purple haired landlady had refrained from questioning both of them, and for that, he was thankful.

He glanced to his side where Akitsu was still sleeping and a seed of worry burrowed into his heart, the Sekirei had yet to wake up even though she had slept through the night. Deciding that nothing could be done until she woke up, the blonde slowly walked downstairs and instantly bumped into a somewhat frantic Minato.

"What's the hurry?" He asked curiously.

"There's someone waiting for you outside, she wants to talk to you so Miya-san sent me up to get you."

Naruto blinked, he was fairly sure that no one in town was even acquainted with him, save the tenants of Izumo Inn,"Huh? Who is it?"

Minato swallowed, "You should go and see for yourself."

"Okaaay..." Scratching his armpit, the blonde yawned again and went downstairs, only to find Miya giving him a rather disapproving glare for some incomprehensible reason.

She pointed at the door with one imperial finger.

Giving her a weird look, he opened it and rapidly began paling as he stumbled into the yard.

Her grey hair was whipping around in the morning wind; her naginata was in her hand as she stood at the entrance in a straight backed pose filled with elegant dignity as she stared at him.

Crap.

He recognized her immediately of course, it was the Sekirei that he and Kagari had saved yesterday... but what she was doing here?"

"Number 87, Kaho." She pointed at him with the sharp end of her naginata, "I want you to be my Ashikabi!" she declared boldly.

Crap.

He blinked, "Wait what? Ashikabi?" he heard the sound of wood cracking. Whirling he around, his jaw dropped.

Akitsu was awake, both she and Miya were standing in the doorway, glaring at him with very venomous disapproval. The sound of wood cracking came from the fact that Akitsu was using the wooden door frame to prop herself up and it was currently cracking under her supposedly weak grip.

Akitsu was not a morning person.

"Wait, wait, I don't know what's this about!" He hedged, "I can't be her Ashikabi. I dont know what she's talking about!"

Kaho lifted one eyebrow, "You won't be my Ashikabi even after violating me?"

You could almost see the gears in Naruto's head click, stall and crash as a dark aura began building behind the poor blonde, "**When the heck did I do anything like that?!**" he whimpered pitifully, "Right?"

The grey haired woman with the naginata lifted one sleeve to wipe her eyes as she sniffed, "Last night... after knocking me up... sniff, sniff. He left me in an alley, just like that..."

The blonde choked as the sounds of wood cracking behind him got louder and louder.

Crap.

It was way too early for this shit.

A fidgeting Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and sweated bullets. For some very strange reason it felt like he was being put on trial, in front of him Miya and Akitsu stood, blocking the entrance to Izumo Inn as they stared at him with dull eyes, as if they were looking at a worm.

Number 87, Kaho stood to his left, naginata resheathed on her back, hands clasped in a dignified pose as she serenely ignored the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Crap." Naruto muttered. As they began advancing on him, he used his superior intellect and years of battle experience to judge his chances against these particular adversaries. His eyes flicked from side to side, looking for anything he could use from the environment.

One second later he came to a decision. He set his jaw and tensed his muscles for a losing battle.

Then he turned around and ran for his life.

******Unwavering Sky******

Author's Note

**To Joe Lawyer and those that agree with him: **I appreciate the reviews, but please don't offend my culture by asking me to 'put Miya in her place'. I am well aware that most Western viewers have a problem with the way females seem to dominate men in Japanese media but that's mostly because it's tongue in cheek, though I'm not entirely sure why Miya seems to be one of the biggest targets for this problem since I don't really see people being so outspoken about it in other series with similar characters. You can be as sophisticated as you like, but I ask that you keep those opinions to yourself in the future, especially when I see no reason for Naruto to 'assert his rights', as you so politely put it.

You are of course, free to stop reading entirely.

P.S. good observation though. I don't think anyone ever noticed that Kur0Kishi is actually Kur0 **and** Kishi.

Kishi, i.e. me, deals with the fights and the normal stuff. Kur0 takes care of the more emotional side of things. Most people probably noticed that the way the fight scenes are written change from time to time, or when the chapter is particularly emotional but don't think anything of it. XD It just means that she wrote it instead of me, when the chapter is more straightforward and blunt, that's generally my work.


	6. Who Are You

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 6**

Who Are You

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is. **

Righto, middle of final exams period but I had some time in between, so I decided to finish this chapter before I went back to the grind stone.

Special thanks to **12ose** for his efforts in helping me find a very nice picture for Unwavering Sky's Naruto.

Dear **Joe Lawyer**, I was simply pointing out that I do not appreciate your view on treating women, nothing else. If anything, your comments on how to write characters are useful, I do enjoy people poking holes in my works. Plenty of good ideas and plot lines have come from those, mostly from one of my most loyal reviewers **AznPuffyHair** whose every long and insightful review is appreciated even though he keeps pointing out stuff we don't WANT him to point out because it forces us to think harder and one up him.

Though, I also found it rather humorous that you immediately decided to hit back by claiming that you wounded my ego. I noticed that shortly after the last chapter was posted, a few other authors contacted me about you and showed me examples of your reviews where you barge in, deciding what was wrong and what wasn't before using the exact same phrase about wounded ego and using your unappreciated time to help thousands of authors when they decided to hit back.

Food for thought, hmm?

Enjoy the chapter guys; this one was mostly Kur0's work. Oh and we're siblings, not a couple. Squick...

**Soundtrack List**

Supercell – Bios Epic Edition

Linkin Park – Numb

Nagi/Gazelle – Last Night Good Night

******Unwavering Sky******

"_Asama-saaaaan!" A black haired boy dressed in dirty white baseball fatigues crashed through the doors of his classroom excitedly before making his way through the tables till he reached the last row where a grey haired boy was currently taking a short nap before he went home, "We need your help!" _

_The boy in question gave him a sleepy look and yawned lazily, "Help? With what?" _

"_We're playing baseball with the boys from E class but Ichisaki-san had to go home early, so now we're one person short, you can come right? You're the best runner in our class." The black haired boy excitedly explained with gleaming eyes. _

"_Can't." Takehito yawned again; he had been up late yesterday, preparing for the coming final exams of his third year in elementary school. Though most of his classmates and class teacher were fairly confident he would ace them even if he didn't study, "It's my turn to cook dinner today." He glanced out the window with narrowed eyes to protect them from the glare of the sun, "It's nearly time to go." _

"_Awww… it's just one time. Your dad can cook can't he? My mum says he makes the best grilled salmon."_

"_I'll bet that's not __**all **__she said about him." The precocious nine year old muttered under his breath. His lazy bastard of a father figure had a rather disturbing habit of 'comforting lonely housewives' as he so eloquently put it. _

_In fact, the blonde man considered it his job. _

_Takehito just considered him a raging pervert. _

_His classmate gave him a strange look, "What?" _

"_Nothing." Takehito shrugged, "He can cook, but he won't. He's the type to starve right alongside you just to prove a point, especially if it's about responsibility." _

"_Eehh… come one, we're nearly done anyway; we just need one more person to run for the next two innings. I'll even give you my pudding for the next week." His friend wheedled. _

_The grey haired boy perked up at the offer, "Well… I guess if we make it quick it should be alright." He replied hesitantly. _

"_Alright!" the boy in the baseball uniform grabbed Takehito's arm and began dragging a groaning Takehito to the school field where the game was being played._

_However, much to their surprise, the game was already over by the time they got there, most of their classmates had already gone home. The few that remained were busy laughing and pointing at the huddle of boys from Class E. _

_The third graders casually walked over to where their classmates were standing, "What's going on? What's everybody laughing at?" Takehito asked curiously. _

_A short boy from his class pointed at where the members of Class E were surrounding a small thin boy who was curled up into a ball, "One of their classmates was angry that he wasn't invited, so he played a prank and threw paint at them. A few of their members quit on the spot, so they lost the game by default." _

_That was when he noted that all the boys from the other class who were surrounding the small and thin boy dressed in threadbare clothes were all splattered in green and blue paint, a boy that he recognized as an infamous prankster and troublemaker in their school. _

_**Play Supercell – Bios Epic Edition**_

_As Takehito watched them beat the boy up in concern, harsh phrases like "You stupid orphan," and "This is your fault!" drifted to his ears. _

"_Sho-Shouldn't we help them?" he asked hesitantly when the small boy's dark eyes met his, there was a defiant yet helpless glint in them. _

"_Nah, it's that stupid failure from Class E. He does this all the time. Besides, it's his fault they lost anyway."_

"_I…. I see…" Takehito kept his face lowered and hurriedly left, avoiding eye contact with the small dark haired boy. _

_The boy didn't need his help anyway, besides he was going to be late. _

_Dinner was painfully silent. _

"_Bad day at school?" Naruto asked his charge who was picking away at his food in an even tone as he cleared away his own empty dishes._

_Takehito looked up dully and shook his head, "I'm just worried about the exams, that's all." He smiled thinly, "I'll be fine."_

_Naruto sighed as the grey haired child began to wolf down his food, presumably so that he could lock himself away into his room. _

"_I'm done." Takehito chirped and made to get away when the blonde spoke again, quietly and firmly, "Sit." _

_A pale faced Takehito immediately sat back down and fidgeted under the blonde's silent stare. _

_It was actually something of a ritual between the two of them; every day after dinner, they would just sit on the parlour and Takehito would talk about his day at school while the blonde listened attentively, even if it was nothing but a normal day with nothing but simple lectures of a third grader. There was no conceivable way that something like that would be exciting enough for an adult but Naruto listened anyway, in fact he insisted on it. _

_But this time was different._

"_You ran away." His guardian finally observed blandly after an hour of uncomfortable silence, causing Takehito to pale even further._

"_How did you know?" _

"_Most problems in this world are usually caused by people running away in one form or another." The blonde replied with a slight smile, there was no hint of judgement in his tone, "Therefore, the question here becomes __**'What are you running from'**__?" _

_Crystal blue eyes pinned him to the floor. _

"_There's a boy in school," Takehito began, nervously wetting his lips, "He doesn't do well in classes, if he even attends them at all. And he's always so loud, brash and annoying; no one likes him because he's so irritating."_

_The man blinked, "Out of curiosity, this boy isn't blonde is he?"_

_Takehito gave him a strange look, "What? No, his hair is brown." _

_Naruto coughed uncomfortably, "Ah. Continue." _

_The strange look Takehito was giving him persisted, "…. Anyway, he also always plays the stupidest pranks, like today. He was upset that his class didn't invite him to a game of baseball, so he threw paint on them." Takehito's voice lowered, "His classmates began to beat him up for causing their loss. It's not the first time this has happened; only the first time they did it where others can see it" he added quietly._

_The blonde man who was dressed in a loose blue male kimono silently nodded. _

"_But no one is willing to stand up for him..." Takehito quietly said, "Not even me..."_

_When his father maintained his silence, the boy's shoulders sagged, "Are you disappointed with me?" _

_Naruto swirled the sake in his saucer idly, "Bonds are a strange thing. They can give you freedom and strength, but they can also bind you just as effectively. There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep the bonds you've made, just remember that a person's true worth isn't just in his bonds alone." Smiling wryly, the older man stood up and moved to the shoji door, "I'm not disappointed. As long as you understand the choice you made and take responsibility for it, there's no way I will be disappointed."_

"_Therefore, the question now becomes 'A__**re you disappointed in **__**yourself**__?'" He left the boy sitting alone in the parlour with his head bowed. _

_The next morning, a harried Takehito made his way to school with bloodshot eyes. He had been unable to sleep until it was 3 am in the morning, having spent the entire night rolling around in bed as his father figure's words boiled in his thoughts. _

_Just as he made it pass the threshold of the school gates, familiar harsh phrases floated to his ears from a corner of the school hidden from plain sight, "Hah? Why is a piece of shit like you here? It's not like you bother studying at all so why bother coming?!"_

"_No one wants you here! Why can you understand something simple like that?" _

_Takehito's small fists clenched._

_Someone laughed, unnaturally high and loud, "Don't waste your breath trying to tell him that, he has no parents, it's only natural that he can't understand." _

_A small voice cried out as he heard flesh smacking into flesh. _

"_Shit, shit, shit, shit." Takehito mumbled under his breath. He was scared... but… he couldn't live with himself if he didn't do anything. _

_Drawing in a gulp of air and ran towards the corner of the school that was hidden by a thick hedge and crashed through it with a yell, ignoring the stinging of the many branches that scratched his exposed skin. In his rush, he didn't even think of finding a teacher, or asking for help._

_He simply charged at the first person he saw, the one whose laugh was unnaturally high and cold, a sharply dressed boy that taller than the rest with light brown hair, and delivered a fist straight to his high cheekbones. _

"_Izumi!" Izumi's friends, all three of them cried out in shock as he crumpled to the ground. _

"_Why you!" all three of them ran at a shaking Takehito when the small and thin boy crashed into two of them, "I don't need your help!"_

"_Say that again when you're not crying on the ground!" Takehito yelled back as he began scuffling with the remaining one. _

_Up on a tree overlooking the courtyard, a figure lounged indulgently in the shadows of the canopy; a lopsided smile decorated his lips as he watched the fight below him. The figure lifted a cup of sake to his lips and sighed in contentment as he made a mental reminder to bring out the first aid box later before shimmering away with a gust of wind. _

_****Later that Evening****_

"_Ouch!" A bruised and beaten up Takehito yelped as his blonde guardian finished patching his black and blue face up with gauze with more force than was strictly necessary. _

"_Stop being such a baby." Naruto grumbled under his breath before slapping another plaster onto the pouting boy's forehead. _

"_It's called reflex. I can't help it." The small boy muttered as he gingerly poked at a long furrowed scratch that ran along the underneath of his forearm, "That's going to scar." _

_The blonde laughed gruffly as he leaned against the shoji, "What's so bad about that? It's your proof after all." _

"_Proof?" _

_The blonde hummed peacefully, "Someone once told me that men are not born. They are made. That scar is proof that you chose to stand up for what you thought was right even if it meant getting hurt or isolated. Not bad for a brat." He smacked Takehito on the back once with a half grin before retiring back to the kitchen. _

_The nine year old stared at his new scar with a slight warm flush on his face at the rare praise. _

_Naruto wasn't the best person to use as a role model, he was lazy, immoral, he drank way too much and he was a sick pervert. But sometimes, it was if a switch had been flipped and another personality that outshone all his negative traits would show itself….._

_The sound of the doorbell ringing shook Takehito out of his contemplation._

"_I'll get it." Naruto called from the kitchen as he made his way towards the front door. _

_Pulling open the door, the tall blonde man with grey streaks in his hair found the small and thin boy that Takehito had helped earlier today. He quirked one eyebrow at the brashly grinning child, "Can I help you?"_

"_Yeah! I'm Seo. Seo Kaoru, is Takehito in?"_

******Unwavering Sky******

Minaka frowned as he idly fingered the medical reports of five rather unfortunate young men on his table. When he released the Scrapped Number 7 into New Tokyo, he had originally wanted to make the game more exciting with an unwingable wild card like her that was exempt to the general rules of the game. The self proclaimed Game Master had discretely sent out a message containing her location to a few selected Ashikabis, fully expecting the dependent Sekirei to follow anyone that even remotely looked like they were going to care for her.

However, things had not gone according to plan and before an Ashikabi of his choice had been able to recruit her, someone else, someone completely unrelated to the game had obtained her loyalty. Of course, Minaka would never admit his plans had gone awry and had therefore allowed it, figuring that it would be fun to watch anyway.

This line of thought was proven further when the stranger had been identified as a significantly younger looking Uzumaki Naruto by running a mug shot of his features through MBI's admittedly impressive facial recognition database. Someone who, according to the database had left New Tokyo twelve years ago though there was no record of him ever reentering Tokyo and, surprise, surprise, used to be Asama Takehito's guardian. The Game Master had come to the conclusion that Uzumaki Naruto worked for a rival medical company, probably one from the US, if his sudden youth and ability to avoid the tight security was any indication.

Then the stranger had then led Number 7 to a special hotspot in New Tokyo where not even his influence could reach; Izumo Inn, he had even put a special GM's eyes only clearance restriction on the information, barring it from everyone save himself, so that the game would be even more exciting.

An enemy spy in the game.

How fun.

Things kept getting more and more interesting and it was beginning to look like leaving Akitsu in his care had been the right choice.

That was when everything went down the drain.

He had been unable to reach Uzumaki Naruto to initiate the standard welcoming speech that he gave to all Ashikabis at all, who for some strange reason did not have a cell phone nor a television. The nearest thing to him that even qualified as an modern day electronic item was his microwave oven.

The stranger also looked to be content with simply watching the game and obstinately refused to join the game no matter how many unwinged Sekireis he seemed to encounter in the vicinity despite more than likely already having knowledge about the Sekirei Game through the Scrapped Number. What man could resist bonding himself to hot women or men that would forever be loyal to him?

This one apparently. Then again, the possibility that none of the Sekirei resonated with him existed. It was slim, yes, but it was not zero.

The worse finally happened yesterday.

As part of the deal that allowed him to use the entire city as a playground, MBI had to take responsibility for any infrastructural damage or injuries and compensate them accordingly.

The dot on the huge interactive map on his wall that represented Uzumaki-san's location had followed the ones representing Akitsu and Homura with surprising ease. He had simply assumed that either Akitsu or Homura was helping him move when the trio began heading in the general direction of a distressed Number 87 without any explanation.

Number 6 and Number 7 stayed on the roof.

Uzumaki-san entered the alley where Number 87 was being surrounded and for some reason, every single one of their surveillance cameras in the area had gone on the frizzt and failed spectacularly with the only thing being known was that Uzumaki-san had left the alley with Number 87 shortly afterwards.

That was when Minaka had realized that the only reason MBI could track Uzumaki Naruto was because he was** letting** them do it.

Minaka glanced at the medical reports again, feeling a rather large amount of disbelief at the disturbingly thick folders.

Later that day, MBI's security squad found 5 men with their faces and bodies burnt beyond all recognition with absolutely no hope for recovery despite all of MBI's advanced technology, their eyes had been boiled right out of their skulls and their reproductive organs had been brutally bludgeoned until they resembled road kill using a brick that Uzumaki-san had presumably ripped out of the wall. Suffice to say, it was a rather interesting way of permanently removing any hopes of having any children ever again.

Serrated claw marks on the brick and victims matched no animal alive.

The worst part was that they were still alive and in constant pain because their skin had been flayed away until their pain receptors were exposed to open air. Their parents, influential people with enough wealth in New Tokyo to threaten his operations were frantically demanding answers, citing his guarantee that things wouldn't go too far.

He had always that there would be some casualties, but this was too far.

Way too far.

The man had style, crude but effective.

He certainly doubted the five young men that were currently floating in bio gel tanks would ever again be able to use date rape drugs thanks to a certain brick.

"Sir?"

Minaka did not jump; he was too dignified to be surprised by anything, "Ye-yes?"

The white haired geezer with a rather long beard on his chin and a cigarette stub hanging from his lips grinned at him, liver spots on his cheeks stretching weirdly as he held up a large plastic bag, "I'm sorry for disturbing you but I'm supposed to be taking out the trash sir." He gave the director of MBI a pointed look, "You're sitting on the trash can."

Minaka's eyes slowly moved downwards where he identified the foreign looking man as one Hiruzen Sarutobi by the identity tag attached to his powder blue jump suit that identified him one of MBI's 24 hour janitors, "Ahem, yes. Carry on!"

As the man in the white lab coat got up from the dustbin with a flourish, he wondered why was he sitting on the trash can again, it seemed to be becoming something of a bad habit, though it was probably unavoidable. For some reason he always had his best ideas while he sat in that particular corner.

"Minaka!" A steaming, silver haired woman stormed in through the large double doors, "Have you seen the reports!? There are some stupid rumours about some wild animal running loose in Tokyo."

"I've heard, and I have everything under control!"

The woman named Takami only rolled her one visible eye at the pompousness in his tone, "Make sure you do, this is becoming a media nightmare and I have absolutely no intention of cleaning up after you."

The old janitor finished emptying the trash can and gaveMinaka a small nod as he left the office behind a stomping Takami.

In the lift, the silver haired woman with an eye patch over one eye paused when her phone began ringing. Giving the quietly humming old man in the elevator with her a cautionary glance, she pulled out her ringing phone and lifted it to her ear, "What is it?"

"Ah Kaa-san?" a timid voice echoed in the spacious lift.

"Yeah?"

"It's your pervert of a son. I turned out to be a paedophile. I'm sorry for being fertilized."

"**Hiiiek!"**

Takami winced and pulled the phone away from her ear as her son shrieked into the mouthpiece on the other side. She gave the cell phone a weird look as she could hear the sounds of something bumping, a smack and a quick scuffle on the other side before her son's breathless voice blared on the speaker again.

"Ah! Kaa-san, you still there?"

"Y…es?"

"Sorry about that, that was my new housemate fooling around." Minato apologized endlessly. His mother quirked an eyebrow in interest as she deduced, correctly, that this joker on the other side with her son was more than likely the other tenant that Homura had let slip about.

"That's alright, what you're calling for. You don't usually call me unless you have something you need." The silver haired woman briskly replied with a hint of annoyance.

On the other side of the connection, Minato winced at the slightly true accusation, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm done shifting, and that I found a job while I wait for the new semester to start."

"That and I finally understand what my preferences are."

"**NARUTO-SAN!"**

She heard the sound of someone snickering on the other side of the connection and suddenly, she suddenly understood why Homura seemed to hate this person so much. She doubted that the uptight Homura would ever get along with the carefree Naruto-san, "That's enough. Just mail me your new address. I'll talk to you later." She snapped her phone shut and sighed tiredly.

"Kids these days huh?"

Takami didn't want to admit it, but she jumped slightly, completely forgetting that there was someone else in the lift with her and gave the grinning old man behind her a look with narrowed eyes.

There was something distinctly... wrong about him, "Do I know you?"

"Maybe," The nearly toothless old man grinned, "I've been working here for a while now."

"I see…..something feels off though…"

The wheezy old man gestured at Takami's feet, "Your shoe laces are untied. Maybe that's what's off?" he offered with another gummy grin.

"Oh… thanks."

Hiruzen took the opportunity to ogle her mini skirt clad ass as she bent down to tie her laces.

******Unwavering Sky**** **

"Uguuu..." a pouting Naruto knelt in a dogeza as he tenderly massaged his black eyes. Flanking him on both sides were the impassive Scrapped Number, Akitsu and the soft spoken Number 87, Kaho. Seated in front of him was the refined land lady of Izumo Inn who was staring at him with a severe look on her face.

"Stop being such a baby. Be glad that a black eye was all I gave you." She spoke stiffly, "For violating Kaho-san, I should have done a lot worse."

Naruto winced as he poked his new panda eyes gingerly, "You gave me **two** black eyes!"

"Akitsu is too nice to punish you, so I did it on her behalf." She replied stiffly.

Then again, the stiff backed landlady knew the blonde well enough by now that she could tell that he would never touch an unwilling woman, which was why she hadn't castrated him on the spot, or at least she wouldn't until she managed to get the full story out of the pleasantly smiling woman.

The blonde wasn't entirely sure how to argue with that particular point since he sort of agreed, "But I still did nothing of the sort! If anything, it's my virtue that's in danger here!"

He fidgeted uneasily, "By the way, Kaho-san? Can you please get your hand out of my pants? It's a little uncomfortable to sit like this."

Miya impassively watched as the serene looking Kaho withdrew her right hand from his back pocket, "Oh my... I'm not sure how that happened. Fufufu."

The blonde struggled to calm himself as he ignored Kaho's delicate giggle, "Ok... That still doesn't change the fact that I did not do anything to her."

The Sekirei in question gave him an artfully composed look that underscored her vulnerability at his harshness as she wiped away a few tears with her sleeve.

The effect was completely ruined when she shot him a coy smile from between the gaps of her fingers.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, it was quickly becoming rather apparent that the woman had absolutely no problems doing whatever she needed to get what she wanted.

"The last thing I remembered was being surrounded by men before you arrived and knocked me out...*Sniff* When I woke up again, my clothes were torn and I was alone in the alley. What was a pure, naive girl like me supposed to think or do?"

He eyed her shrine maiden costume suspiciously, "It looks completely fine to me..."

She held up the hem of her hakama and pointed out a tiny tear in the grey fabric.

One golden eyebrow twitched violently, before he finally sighed in resignation, "Alright, alright, I get that part, but I already have Akitsu as my Sekirei, even if it's not official, so I'm afraid that I can't be your Ashikabi."

He could feel Akitsu sit just that little bit straighter at his declaration and subtly shuffle sideways so that she could be closer to him. Just then he also felt Kaho's hand make its way back into his back pocket.

Not to be outdone, the stoic Ice Sekirei slowly inched her own hand into his other pocket, causing her Ashikabi to shiver a little.

He really didn't need to know that her hands were as cold as the ice she used.

At least not in full view of a distinctly annoyed Miya, who began emitting that rather disturbing dark aura he was getting rather familiar with for some really sad reason.

She finally sighed in resignation, "It doesn't matter anymore even if you refuse her." The landlady pointed at Kaho's hand with one raised eyebrow, "She's reacting to you and she'll just keep following you until you accept her."

The blonde blinked dumbly, "Reacting? What's that?"

Miya gained a look of wry surprise on her face as she rubbed her temples; because of the way the blonde treated everybody in the house despite being well... aliens and the easy way he had integrated himself into Izumo Inn's dynamics she had completely forgotten that the blonde had yet to experience what most would consider an even remotely normal encounter with one of her children, "Reacting is what a Sekirei experiences when she or he finds the person most suited to be their Ashikabi. Generally it manifests itself in an increase in body temperature and heart rate, as well as a pronounced need to be in physical contact with the person in question."

Naruto gave her a rather strained smile as he pulled out her hand, "Is that why she keeps trying to molest my butt?"

The landlady had to bite her lip in order to stop herself from smiling, "You could say that."

Kaho smiled sweetly and was about to reply when the shoji doors burst open.

"Kaho-chan! Kaho-chan! When Minato-sama described you, I knew it was you!" a cheering Musubi hurtled through the doors and landed squarely in Number 87's lap where she began gleefully nuzzling Kaho, "I missed you so much."

"Bi-chan, I missed you too," the Sekirei whose long hair was tied back with an elegant bow smiled warmly and embraced the younger Sekirei with an affectionately caring hug, "It's good to see that you are well."

Musubi perked up and the Sekirei who had no concept whatsoever about personal space thrust her face into Kaho's until they were nose to nose, "What are you doing here, Kaho-chan?"

Before the more mature Sekirei could answer, Musubi's warm brown irises had already slowly drifted downwards until she saw where Kaho's hand was linked with the blonde's slightly larger hand, and her brown doe like eyes widened with realization, "You found your Ashikabi?!" The excitable Sekirei began happily squirming on Kaho's lap much to everyone's amusement.

"Naruto-san is very nice! He'll be a very good Ashikabi!" Musubi happily declared as Kaho stroked her hair.

"Oh? Why do you think he's nice?" Miya asked carefully, "I wasn't aware that you ever even talked to Naruto-san at all."

Musubi crinkled her nose cutely with an intensely thoughtful expression, "Because he always plays games with me after dinner and feeds me nice snacks?"

"Fufufu, that's ni-"

"Yeah! I like the game where he makes me bark three times, **'woof, woof, woof'**, and then he throws a snack for me to catch!" Out of sheer muscle memory, the blonde's free hand flicked out a cream puff that Musubi leapt up to catch with her mouth before wolfing it down happily.

Silence reigned.

"He says he likes to watch me jump!"

The silence turned deadly.

Naruto felt cold sweat run down his back as he tried to slowly edge away but Kaho's hand instantly clamped down on his with extreme force, preventing him going anywhere.

"….In my defence, I couldn't help it; she acts like a really energetic puppy I used to have…."

"Ah… I want snacks too…" Akitsu murmured stoically as she stared at a rather pale Naruto with half lidded eyes.

Miya's distinctly annoyed glare was upgraded into a flat out murderous one, a glare that was compounded by a pleasantly smiling Kaho, "Naruto-san, exactly **what** are you trying to teach my little sister/Musubi-chan and Akitsu-chan?"

"Crap."

Musubi cutely cocked her head in confusion as Miya and Kaho began wailing away at a rather unfortunate blonde with their bare hands, "Does that mean no more snacks?"

******Unwavering Sky******

"Ouch…" Fleshy blobs of grey, white and pale brown slowly swam into focus, "Did you and Miya really have to hit me so hard?" he groused, absently noting that he was still in the parlour and his head was currently situated on Akitsu and Kaho's laps, with the two of them sitting side by side and his head in the middle, he doubted it was comfortable for either of them, though he certainly was.

He figured they had gotten into an argument over who got the honour before deciding they might as well share it.

"I was fairly sure that you can take it." The first fleshy blob who's half of the lap he was lying on replied offhandedly.

"And if I couldn't?" Naruto replied with a crooked smirk as he slowly reached out to grasp a lightly blushing Akitsu's hand and laid the back of her palm over his eyes, enjoying the coolness that calmed the throbbing behind his temple.

"You could."

The blonde on her lap hummed noncommittally, "Where is Miya?"

The Scrap Number's soothingly even voice answered his question, "Ah… Preparing lunch."

"…. Akitsu, do you remember when Miya-san knocked me out the first time we arrived?"

The palm of the hand covering his eyes tensed a little at the memory, "Yes."

Naruto hummed quietly as he wondered how to phrase the question properly, "Do you remember what she tried to do after I was knocked out?"

"…Nothing. She looked horrified." The snow Sekirei murmured quietly.

He nodded slowly; he had been hoping to find out what was so different about Kaho that she had managed to remember him slightly after he had knocked her out when Homura and Uzume barely remembered anything short of an orange blur. The blonde was also admittedly curious as to what a Sekirei would have done to him had they been successful in knocking him out. Though it seemed like Miya had managed to regain her senses, he somehow doubted that his refined, oh-so-gentle landlady was representative of all the other Sekireis.

One deep blue eye opened slightly to peer straight up at an unruffled Kaho, "I'm really stuck with you aren't I?"

The unflappable veneer disappeared for a split second and she looked strangely vulnerable, "I… can leave if you really don't want me. I do not want to force myself on you if it disturbs you this much."

The blonde lazily waved his hand, "That's not what I'm saying, I'm just asking how long can you stay in my presence without being winged?"

Kaho blinked, "…. A week or so? By then I'll probably lose control and initiate a winging with you by force."

The blonde smiled, "A week it is."

His two Sekireis shared a confused look but ultimately shrugged. The blonde whom they considered their Master in all but name was a strange person, but he always had his reasons…. even if those reasons might not be entirely pure… or logical for that matter.

Then Naruto gave Kaho a shrewd look, "By the way, I'm not stupid. You left quite a few details out of your little explanation and I want to hear them." When she hesitated, the blonde closed his eyes and leaned back to enjoy the strange lap pillow, "Well, it's not like I need to know right away. You can tell me when you're ready."

She smiled softly, "As you wish Naruto-sama."

Naruto was about to relax and enjoy a short nap after a rather hectic morning when the shoji opened slightly and a brown eye peeked in, "Ah… Naruto-san?"

He stopped himself from sighing, but it was a near thing, "Yeah, Minato?"

"Ah…. Nothing, I just wanted somewhere with some space to do some studying for some extra credit. My room is a little cramped." The younger male slowly tiptoed into the parlour with a stack of books and took up a spot at the dining table where he proceeded to start writing something, or at least pretended to; the Uzumaki could easily feel the black haired boy sending him looks from the corner of his eyes every few seconds.

Deciding to wait until the boy had managed to gather up enough guts to open his mouth; the blonde closed his eyes again and regulated his breathing for some much needed rest.

Unfortunately, the scratching of pen on paper only lasted so long and Minato hesitantly spoke, "Ano… Naruto-san."

"Mmph?"

"I didn't know you were a," His voice lowered conspiratorially, something the blonde found incredibly amusing considering the situation, "Ashikabi."

"I am, and so are you." The blonde calmly replied with his eyes still closed.

The boy nearly jumped at him in excitement, "What do you think about the Sekirei Plan?"

He grinned, "I think it's stupid and pointless."

"Huh?"

The blonde decided to elaborate, "As far as I'm concerned there's nothing that says we have to fight except someone who is clearly bat shit crazy, so I decided not to listen. I am **not** making Akitsu and Kaho fight in a _life or death battle_ just because some idiot told me to."

"Bu-but, Akitsu-san helped us the other day!"

"That she did." The blonde stretched slightly, "My Sekirei can do whatever the hell they want unless it's stupid or criminal or both, my job is to provide them with moral support and care for them as long as they need. If Akitsu wants all her siblings to live in peace with their chosen ones, then who am I to argue?"

"I see…."

"Put it this way," One crystal blue eye opened slightly to observe the boy whose books had been all but forgotten, "I know you winged Ku-chan this morning. Would you subject a child like her to a fight where she might be forcibly taken away from you?"

"Definitely not!"

Naruto nodded, "And there you have it."

The door opened again and Miya entered with a platter of cups, causing Minato who had been about to continue arguing to zoom back to his ignored books and pretend to be furiously scratching out something, knowing that the Sekirei Plan was a secret that the landlady shouldn't know about.

"Oh my, is good to see everything so peaceful. Fufufu."

Naruto decided not to point out that she had been eavesdropping on the other side of the paper doors, "By the way, Minato. You got that last question wrong."

The ronin blinked rapidly, "Huh?"

"The one that asked you to guess where MU is." The blonde waved vaguely, "Mu wasn't in South Africa."

His jaw dropped, "How did you know what I was writing about? You never moved from there!"

Naruto grinned cheekily, "I could hear what you were writing." It was a rather useful skill he had picked up from a very old friend, especially when he couldn't see people's lips to read them or hear what they were saying.

A shinobi's lifeblood was information after all.

Minato chuckled uneasily, "So where is Mu then?"

The blonde who was peacefully lying on Akitsu and Kaho's laps gestured for Minato to bring the world map over to him. When he did, the blonde blindly placed his finger on a spot on the map, confirming the fact that the blonde was in fact pulling his leg considering his eyes weren't even open. The weird man must have peeked through his books while he was out working.

"That's the middle of the Mariana Trench, Naruto-san." Minato replied with a confident smirk as he called the blonde's bluff, "You can't be saying that they are at the bottom of the trench are you?"

"Nah, it's where it used to be. Besides," The blonde grinned audaciously, "Who do you think put it that stupid trench there in the first place?"

Minato only laughed and went back to his seat.

Miya on the other hand was warily watching the dozing blonde with narrowed eyes before shaking off her current line of thoughts.

It simply wasn't possible; she turned to the dark haired boy, "Ah, Minato-san. I asked Musubi-chan to pick up some rice, you don't mind do you?"

Minato smiled shyly, "That's alright with me Miya-san. But if I remember right, we just did groceries yesterday, why do we need more rice?"

"Ah…. An old friend of my husband is coming over." Miya sighed theatrically and added, "Perverted trash like him and Naruto-san are not very dependable."

"Now that's just plain rude Miya-chan." The blonde slowly got up, fairly convinced and resigned that he was not going to get any time to rest until tomorrow.

"You have yet to prove me wrong."

The blonde sent her a strange smile but didn't reply; a chillingly strange smile as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

As if he knew something she didn't.

And she didn't like it.

Not one bit.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Linkin Park - Numb**

Miya really had to marvel at the way he managed to switch gears so easily, picking the best persona and posture to face the world, depending on the situation, almost as easily as one would pick clothes.

The blonde who could switch from the man who kneeling in a contrite and supplicatory manner and asking for her forgiveness about an hour earlier to unrepentant joker was now replaced by a confident man with a dignified and authoritative bearing as he stared down Seo like he would a misbehaving child. If she was completely honest with herself, it had been rather jarring to the point of disturbing at first, especially when he first arrived at Izumo Inn, but she was glad to say that she was finally getting used to it.

Still, the fact that he could so easily switch faces and personalities made her question, who was the true Uzumaki Naruto?

The joker or the mentor?

Or someone completely different?

Naruto, who was now dressed in a simple red male kimono, sat with a straight back as he observed the fidgeting man on his knees in front of him and his two Sekirei with a flat stare.

When he finally spoke after the long lengthy silence, it was with a conversationally even tone that made the unemployed man flinch badly, "It's good to see you again, Seo."

"Yeah...right..." the unshaven man drawled lowly as they lapsed into another lengthy silence, recognizing the tactic for what it was. The blonde never outwardly displayed his displeasure with him and Takehito unless absolutely necessary, preferring to stay neutral and sticking to the philosophy that children were meant to make mistakes and learn from them on their own.

Instead he would sit there and fix them with a silent look that caused the hair on the back of their necks to stand, sometimes for hours, while two boys who had been caught red handed fidgeted under his stony gaze. The scarred blonde was never the most emotive or demonstrative of men, but despite his moments of levity with them, he never allowed even a hint disappointment to surface in his expressions or posture while he was using this particular tactic, but they could damn well feel it radiating from him.

Safe to say, neither he nor Takehito ever made the same mistake twice; it hadn't take long for either of them to realize that even enduring harsh beatings and verbal insults were far more preferable to hours of the blonde man's silent scrutiny.

Crystalline blue, half lidded eyes flicked to the two wide eyed women who were dressed in some sort of tight leather outfits and were currently kneeling beside Seo as they stared at their Ashikabi which was fidgeting like a schoolboy which had been caught peeping in the women's toilet red handed, in wide eyed shock.

"Interesting choice of clothes." The supposedly older man commented blandly, "Were you trying to make a statement about your preferences?"

"At least I **HAVE **preferences." Seo shot back bravely.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Naruto replied with one raised eyebrow.

The black haired man bristled, "It means I don't want to hear about **preferences **from someone who managed to dip his god damned bait in damn near every honey pot in a 5 mile radius."

Seo shot up and began shaking a fist at the expressionless blonde, much to the wide eyed amusement of everyone watching, especially those that knew him, save Miya who was observing the byplay with a rather speculative glint in her eyes, "Do you know how traumatizing it was for us to go to high school and find out that you were tapping our god damn Japanese teacher?! She was over **fifty fucking years old**! And** married **to boot! She came to us after you left, wondering if we could contact you for another round for God's sake!"

The unshaven man looked rather green and wobbly at the memory, not that anyone could blame him.

Despite successfully holding onto her composure, Miya felt the blood drain from her face as the way her husband and his best friend usually acted made painful, horrifying sense. One had a calm, wise and rational personality while the other was an abrasive, raging pervert that didn't know how to take things seriously.

And it was getting rather obvious where they got it from, namely the aloof blonde that was currently sitting at the head of the table with a supremely calm expression.

The blonde sipped sake from a saucer, "Be that as it may, I distinctly remember teaching both of you that women should be treated with more respect." He paused for a beat of silence and added, rather unnecessarily, "Besides, she was damn good looking for a fifty year old woman and she did this rather interesting thing with her fingers-"

Whatever the blonde was going to say was cut off by four teacups filled with hot boiling tea and flying at the speed of sound making contact with his face, **"DWAAAH!" **

Bleeding from the face, Naruto slowly got up and shot the three women sitting in a row by the wall a rather accusing look, all three of which returned the look with a look of artfully composed innocence as a widely grinning Kagari passed them new cups.

Probably as more ammo, Kagari wasn't exactly the most subtle person around. As far as the fire user was concerned, any time Naruto got hurt was a good time.

The fourth teacup came from a rather horrified Seo who had his fingers stuck in his ears and was currently screeching in a rather horrified way,** "Damn it old man! I DO NOT want to hear about what that shrivelled old bag was doing between your legs!"**

Naruto carefully wiped the blood and steaming tea off of his face with a dry look "I'm not entirely sure what you are referring too. I simply meant she was good at massaging and I took a few lessons from her."

It was obvious by the looks everyone the room was giving him that not a single person believed a single word he had said.

Naruto pouted and sighed as Seo grudgingly took a seat and glared at him.

"That aside, I've been hearing some strange stories about you." He remarked calmly.

"Like what?" the man slammed his fist on the table, "That I'm unemployed? Lazy? Slacking off?" Seo leaned forward with a strangely hungry look on his face, **"Are you disappointed in me?" **

The blonde didn't reply and the two men simply stared eye to eye.

Seo clicked his tongue angrily as he got up, "Figures that you don't care enough. You never did. We're leaving girls."

"Wha-what? What about the-"

"I SAID WE'RE LEAVING! I'd rather starve then ask for help from someone heartless enough to let his son die." the two stunned Sekirei immediately went silent at his completely sudden burst of temper and stood up with bowed heads, leaving in his wake a room full of stunned people, human and Sekirei alike.

As the fuming man and his two Sekirei left, Naruto allowed his shoulders to sag just that little bit, crystal blue eyes glazing over in weariness.

"What was he talking about?" Miya asked quietly with an intense stare, her eyes were far sharper than he had ever seen them before, almost murderous.

The blonde chuckled humourlessly, "Probably another mistake on a very long list of mistakes." He gestured at the bags of rice and murmured quietly as he took his leave, "Leave them there. I'll make sure they get to him." Miya couldn't bring herself to insist on pulling answers out of the blonde.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Nagi/Gazelle – Last Night Good Night**

It was a strangely quiet night, save for the standard nightly sounds of crickets chirping and the occasional yowl and thrum of cars passing by. Yet a restless Miya could barely bring herself to sleep a wink, restless as she was.

Giving up on sleep for now, the landlady quietly padded into the kitchen for a drink of water when she felt a presence in the parlour.

"Are you alright?"

The blonde who was sitting in the shadows of the veranda could only chuckle slightly before taking another drag on his pipe, "Better than this evening." he admitted sheepishly.

Miya who was wearing a traditional white yukata for bed time delicately took a seat on the other end of the veranda, "Why are you still up? It's already so late."

"I could say the same to you." The blonde pointed out with a half smile that was almost hidden by the darkness, something that MIya would have completely missed had it not been for her ability to see in the dark.

"I couldn't sleep." She replied quietly as she looked up into the starry sky, "Too much to think about."

"About what Seo said?" he answered with a quirk of the lips.

Miya nodded curtly.

"I think it was about… thirty year ago? My memory gets a bit hazy sometimes." Naruto muttered humorously, "The brat was my neighbour at the time. FIrst time I met him was when he fell from that stupid tree and broke his arm."

He pointed at a modern two story brick home on the other side of the thick maple tree that Minato had fallen down from, "That was his house. I adopted him in when his parents passed away."

Miya watched him ramble on, his blue eyes glazed over as if he was seeing something she could not.

He drew another deep breath, "And so time passed as time is wont to do with him and Seo under my guidance. But around ten years ago, a good friend of mine passed away, but before she did she sent me a message asking me for one last favour." He lamented with an obscure pain in his voice, "She had an apprentice who was still new to the field, so she wanted me to guide him until he could stand on his own, and so I did, I left Tokyo. I couldn't turn her down."

"Maybe I should have stayed, maybe I should have left my friend's apprentice to learn on his own." He shrugged; glowing blue eyes stared into glowing purple ones.

"That's the problem with choices. You never know if it's the right one until you've made it." He puffed a cloud of smoke, "Even the gods are subject to this rule."

The sound of the wooden door creaking open echoed through the still mansion. Both of them tensed as a weary Uzume who had been completely missing from Izumo Inn the entire day tried to make her way through the halls as quietly as possible.

"Uzume-san? Are you alright?"

The cloth user nearly attacked the speaker in her shock, "Mi-Miya? You're still awake?"

"I'm here too, you know."

Uzume nearly jumped again when she realized the weird blonde was sitting, half shrouded in the shadows, "Is it that fun to scare me like that?!"

The two of them chuckled and Naruto beckoned for Uzume to come closer.

"What is it?" the pony tailed girl asked uneasily as she walked closer to the two.

The blonde simply patted his lap with a reticent smile, "You must be tired."

Uzume blinked in faked confusion, "What?"

The blonde stared at her with his piercing orbs until the fidgeting brown haired girl grudgingly gave in with a wry roll of her eyes and tiredly collapsed beside Naruto, using his lap as a pillow while Miya watched the two of them inscrutably.

"You sure your girl won't be jealous?" She muttered.

The blonde simply shrugged with a smile as he ran his fingers through her long hair, "They have plenty of chances later on."

"They?"

"I got another one."

Uzume wolf whistled, "Not bad Nii-chan, you're a pretty good player."

The blonde grinned good naturedly at her teasing.

Uzume giggled and yawned, feeling her body slowly relaxing under the blonde's gentle caresses as he massaged the back of her neck, "Huh…. Whaddya know… I really am tired…"

"I know. It must have been hard on you wasn't it?" The tall blonde whispered softly.

Uzume struggled to pull back her eyelids in shock and fear but everything felt extremely sluggish for some reason under the blonde's nimble ministrations, "Ho-How?"

"Shh… Sleep."

Uzume grunted and fought, but in the end his stroking hands won out and the brown haired girl reluctantly fell into a deep slumber on his lap.

"I told you I wasn't lying about the massage lessons." Naruto said with some amusement, his words directed at the purple haired landlady.

For her part, Miya simply watched the blonde run his fingers through Uzume's hair, alternating between presses and pokes along the back of her neck and the larger part of her spine, a strange, extremely caring expression on his face.

In that instant, she understood, if only a little.

The man I front of her was neither joker nor mentor.

He was just a man who couldn't help but care, and yet couldn't show it because it wasn't right. Knowing that people needed to learn how to walk on their own while he could only watch from the shadows.

Something fluttered in her chest, causing the landlady to stiffen as she stared at him with mounting horror when she realized what was happening.

"Who are you?" she managed to choke out.

Uzumaki Naruto lifted his face and smiled at her, a warm honest smile.

"No one important."

******Unwavering Sky******


	7. Fire in Flowers and Flowering Fires

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 7 **

**Fire in Flowers and Flowering Fire  
**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

**Happy 2013!**

Righto, everyone remember my Christmas present to readers last year? This year, I decided to do something similar. We're updating this, along with True Faith, Caliburn Initiative and The Hunter the moment the clock hits twelve in Australia. That's right, Four chapters in ONE month. Bow before my awesomeness. Bwahaha.

******Soundtrack List******

Angel Beats OST – Brave Song

Guilty Crown OST – Krone

Neko no Ongaeshi – Become the Wind

******Unwavering Sky******

"Neh... Seo?" The three of them were on the way back to their apartment when Hibiki finally couldn't stand it anymore and tapped her Ashikabi's shoulder carefully while her shyer sister stood back with fidgeting fingers, she had never see the man look so... dark and gloomy, "Are you alright?"

The man brushed her off with a wave, "I'm alright. Just a little... upset."

If anything, that caused the Lightning Twins to get even more confused, he didn't even grope them! He always did that! Especially when he was upset!

The man fumbled in his pockets for his keys for a few moments before giving up and kicking in the door with a angry grunt. The two of them watched him ignore the door and head straight for the fridge where he pulled out a can of beer, popping the tab and downing nearly half of it in one gulp. Heaving a relieved sigh, the unshaven man propped himself up on the fridge and attached the cold surface of the can to his forehead.

"Oi, Seo! You there?" a gravelly voice called out from outside the entrance. The man in question sighed again, he really didn't need to deal with his crabby old landlady right now.

"What is it you old bat?!"

The wrinked little woman glared at the broken door distastefully, "I hope you're going to fix that." before forcing a smile onto her face, "Some relatives came by," she motioned to the four bags of rice by her feet, "They left too much so I thought you might need some, hobo that you are."

Seo blinked, he wasn't entirely sure if she was being nice or sarcastic.

"Wait... you're giving me food?"

She nodded.

"For free?"

"I told you that I had too much. Just take them!" the old woman spluttered uneasily.

He blinked again before slowly out his cell phone, "Hello? I need an ambulance. I think someone died because her regretful ghost is haunting me."

The little old woman growled and threw a wooden clog at his face, "Ingrate. Can't even be nice to people nowadays. Back then, they at least knew how to say thank you!" She left the apartment that contained a wide eyed Seo holding a cell phone in one hand and a wooden clog in the other. They could hear her muttering curses all the way down.

"You old ha-"

"Seo! That's enough. You left Izumo without taking any food. If we don't accept this, we'll be eating grass until your payday. And I don't think I need to remind you that you probably DON'T have one at the moment since you saw fit to take unexcused leave!" Hibiki chastised him sternly.

"Oh." He blinked slowly at that piece of information and chuckled sadly when he connected the bags of rice to the ones from Izumo.

The old man always did do things in a roundabout manner; unfortunately, his landlady wasn't exactly the most subtle person around. He never gave them a straight answer, sometimes if they were lucky, he would give them the tools and made them find the answer themselves. Every other time, he just watched them flounder for shits and giggles.

Shoulders sagging, Seo motioned for them to take the bags of the rice with a weary wave while he dumped himself onto the couch, feeling extremely tired as if his body was encased in a block of wood or stone.

Just like that day.

He had just turned ten, two months before Takehito would; the day he had almost killed his best friend with one of his harebrained schemes.

******Unwavering Sky******

"_Seo! It's enough! We're going to get into trouble if they find out who did this! Tou-san will __**kill **__us!" a frantic grey haired boy quiet urged his friend._

"_Then we __**won't **__let him know. Just keep that flash light steady so I can see what I'm doing. The faster I'm done, the faster we can get out of here." A panting brown haired boy retorted as he fixed a small pink bag to the underneath of a chair. Wedged between the bag and the main support pillar of the chair was a bag containing a large egg that he had pilfered from the school's chicken coop two weeks ago and kept in his room until he was sure it was rotten, "Besides, you can't tell me that you weren't angry with that asshole." _

"_Don't be rude, even if he's an asshole he's still a teacher." Takehito quietly replied, his eyes rapidly flicking from shadow to shadow, supposedly keeping a lookout for the school's lone security guard._

_Seo snorted, "Oh yes, a high and mighty teacher that put down your project because he was jealous that it won a national level competition? That thinks he's so much better than us because he graduated top honours from Tokyo U?" The brown haired boy made a pinched expression and modified his pitch into tinny, snobby whine, "Oh, it's nothing special. Anyone can do something like that. I'm sure you won because Minaka-sama took pity on you."_

_He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, "Look Takehito, don't be an idiot. I don't know who or what Tesla is but even a fool like me could tell it was the best." He turned shiny eyes on his best friend, "The way you made thunder and lightning... It was awesome... It really made an impression on me..."_

_The shorter boy blushed a little, feeling a strange pride in his little heart, "Thanks." He said quietly. _

_Seo grinned widely, "Don't worry *cough*, we'll be done soon." _

"_Are you alright? You've been coughing a lot lately." _

"_It's nothing, just a little cold." Seo patted the chair in triumph, "Alright, we're done. Tomorrow, when that snobby douche bag takes a seat with his nose stuck up in the air, the egg will crack, and the sound of the egg cracking will be covered by the sound of him farting in front of Yuuka-sensei. I'm sure she'll notice him now. Notice the smell anyway." He giggled in satisfaction, proud of his own ingenuity, "That'll take him down a few notches." _

_Grinning, the two of them ran out of a side exit, leaving the extremely dark and oppressively deserted corridors of a school at night with a great sense of relief. Breathing in deeply, the two laughing children began speeding down the road on short feet, or at least Takehito was laughing until he realized that his friend was lagging behind. _

"_Seo? What's wrong?" _

"_No-Nothing. Just need to catch my breath a little." The brown haired boy wheezed as the whole road seemed to swim in his eyes. He stumbled onto his knees, what was wrong with him? He couldn't let the book worm out run him. A blurry Takehito running towards him with a panicked expression, shouting something that the tinny whirring in his ears blocked out was the last thing that Seo saw until he blacked out and hit the asphalt in a dead faint. _

_**Play Angel Beats OST – Brave Song**_

"_TOU-SAN!" _

_Naruto who had been peacefully carving another little statuette as he enjoyed some warm sake, shot out of his chair at the fear and panic in his ward's voice, "Takehito? What's wrong?"_

_The sweating and heavily panting boy burst into the parlour with an unconscious Seo on his back as he stared at his father with wide eyes, "It's Seo, he fainted." _

_The older man gently took Seo from the boy with his larger hands and laid the flushed and heaving boy on the floor as he ran through a few hand signs and laid a diagnostic jutsu on the boy's chest with a pinched expression, "Where were you two tonight? Weren't you supposed to be in bed?" he asked in a supremely calm and steady tone. _

"_The-there was this teacher, he called my project rubbish." The small boy completely ignored the impossibly glowing hand in favour of rambling as he emptied out his chest, "Se-Seo, he got angry. So we went to school to prank him, he stole a rotten egg from the chicken coop. It was supposed to make him look bad. Then we ran home, but Seo fainted!" _

"_I see..." Naruto breathed in deeply and shifted towards Takehito as soon as he received the results and began running the same jutsu on the panicking boy, "Don't worry about it alright? Both of you will be fine. I promise." He removed his hand and ruffled his grey hair with a smile, "Why don't you go and bath and get ready for bed. Everything will be fine."_

"_O-Okay..." _

_As the boy left with one last reluctant look Naruto leaned back onto his chair with a heavy sigh. Both of them had been seriously infected, Takehito later than Seo and their lungs were slowly failing. At best, he would be able to soothe the inflammation in their lungs, but that was a temporary solution at best. A proper practitioner would have been able to boost their immune systems to the point where they could fight off the virus on their own but not even millennia of practice had been able to increase his proficiency in the healing arts due to an obscenely huge chakra pool. _

_Were he a more cynical person, he would have snorted at the irony. _

_His hands were never destined to heal, only hurt. _

_Sighing, he brushed dark thoughts away with a flick of his head and bit his thumb. Running through a few familiar hand signs, he smacked a bloody palm into the ground, creating a spider web of black runes that summoned a puff of smoke and a tiny croak of surprise. When the cloud cleared away, a black toad with red stripes, the size of a large puppy sat there with a confused expression, "Boss? That you?" _

"_Yeah." The blonde moved to the table and began writing a message, "I need you to take a message to someone for me, Touka. He has my personal mark, so you should be able to locate him easily if you return to Myobukuzan and concentrate." He rolled up the letter and inserted it into a hollow tube that the toad took with careful webbed fingers, "If he refuses, let him know that I'll pay anything. Just put it on my tab." _

"_Yes, Boss!" The toad puffed away without another word._

_The next time Seo opened his eyes again, it was to a white ceiling and the sounds of a beeping heart monitor. His eyelids felt extremely heavy, and the rest of his body doubly so. As if he was encased in a block of wood or stone. The small boy groaned, trying to wet his lips as he sat up._

"_Ah, good. You're awake. About time. Another hour, and I would've lost that bet."_

_Seo blinked stupidly. Before him was the most... bizarre looking person he had ever seen. He looked as if he had been cut in half from head to toe and put back together by a tailor; a threaded scar ran down the middle of his face. One side was a pale bluish white, while the other was noticeably darker shade. Likewise, the shock of spiky hair on his head was half jet black and shocking white. _

"_Uh..."_

_The private physician, he must've been one, no hospital would accept a doctor as bizarre looking as this one, gave him a distasteful look, "Eloquent aren't you? Well, I suppose that's only par for the course, you just woke up from a coma after all. I hope that will you teach you and your brother to refrain from playing around with poultry that haven't been inoculated the next time."_

_The already pale boy paled even further when he realized what the man was saying. It was all his fault._

_Seo shook his head tiredly and growled gruffly, "Orphan. Not brother. Don't deserve it." _

"_Be that as it may, he still brought you here. He could've gone to a normal doctor I guess, but no one is as good as me. Instead he ran across the Atlantic in less than two hours, in the middle of a storm no less, with you and your friend on his back." The chatty doctor tapped the clipboard thoughtfully, "You two must be something special though. The last person he did that for stopped a war somewhere." _

"_I see..." Seo stared at his clenched fists, furiously blinking away tears. _

_The man looked at him expectantly as he began fiddling with a large syringe filled with some sort of boiling black liquid, "Well? What are you waiting for? Get up and get out, you're perfectly fine." _

_The recently recovered little boy looked at him like he was stupid, how in the world was he fine?_

"_Well, if you insist, I could always help you get back to sleep." He smiled creepily and motioned with the large syringe in his hands, "Just turn around realll slow and show me your butt." The white and black man paused before muttered something under his breath, something that Seo heard loud and clear, "I've always wanted to see what this would do to a normal person." _

_A wide eyed Seo slowly backed away from the doctor, making sure to keep his back away from the mad man and his syringe at all times until his bare back hit the cold wood of a door. _

_A syringe with a needle point that was thicker than his pinkie. _

_A lot thicker. _

_If he went back to sleep, it sure as hell wasn't going to be because of whatever that was inside that syringe. _

_Suffice to say, the small boy fled out the door as if the hounds of hell were after his little ass. _

"_He's waiting in the hall!" the man called out with a crooked grin, "Hasn't slept a wink since he brought the two of you here either." _

_The small boy dressed in a simple baby blue robe of some sort meandered down the dark corridor unsteadily, propping himself up with one hand, looking for the hall that the man had mentioned until he came to a slightly open door. He could hear two voices arguing inside the room, one which he was familiar with, and another that sounded strangely croaky. _

"_What the hell do you mean one chocolate bar?!" The unknown person hysterically spat out, "I took your stupid message, ran around like a fool for 3 days and what do I find? An insane bastard that tried to __**dissect **__me with a goddamned chainsaw the moment I said 'HI'!"_

"_I might have forgotten to mention that he was a little unstable." Seo could almost imagine the amused look on the blonde's face. _

"_Unstable my sexy toad's ASS! Bat shit crazy is more like it! Do you know anybody ELSE that carries a chainsaw to the toilet?"_

_The man seemed to laugh in a placating manner, though Seo personally found taking a chainsaw to someone who busted in on him during his toilet time a rather reasonable idea, "Alright, alright. Just go to Sakuya and tell her that I asked for your help. She'll reward you with a batch of my special sake."_

"_Really?"_

"_Really."_

"_WOOOHOOO! Thousand year old Sake HERE I COME!" _

_There was the sound of a small poof and the creaking of wood as the blonde sat back down with a wry chuckle. _

"_Naruto?" A tiny voice interrupted his thoughts as the dor creaked open slightly. _

_The blonde instantly looked up. He tried to hide it, but the boy saw a look of concern on his face before it was replaced by a placid smile, "Ah. You're awake. Good. Takehito will take a little longer so we will rest here for now. I already booked a plane back to Tokyo for us; you don't have to worry about school. I already called in for both of you and explained the situation." He smiled, "I probably shouldn't mention this, but while I was talking to your homeroom teacher, I could hear someone ranting about rotten eggs and little monsters in the back ground. I think it's safe to say that that particular teacher won't be in employment for much longer." _

"_Oh..." The small boy looked down at his feet and scuffed the floor with a few nervous kicks._

"_Hmm? What's wrong?" the blonde asked the abnormally taciturn youth gruffly, "I thought you'd be happier. You get to skip school and that child hater got kicked out." _

"_Why'd you do this?"_

_The scarred man blinked in a rather perplexed, "I'm sorry, do what?" _

"_Help me. This..." Seo waved at the dark and barren room mutinously, "This is all my fault. You should have just left me at the orphanage and just brought Takehito here." _

_Life at the orphanage wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy either. Toys and clothes were hard to come by, and it was generally everyone for him or herself. Whenever someone was sick, it was just lots of bed rest and porridge for him until he recovered because the orphanage couldn't afford to send every little problem to a physician, "I'm just a friend... and a trouble maker. He's more important than me and this can't be cheap, you should have just left me."_

_In other words, the little boy was uncomfortable and uneasy that the man had helped him solve a problem that was of his own making. _

"_Why shouldn't I help?" the scarred man asked roughly._

"_Be-because Takehito is more important than me!"_

_The blonde stared at him with an undecipherable expression for a few moments before collapsing back into his uncomfortable chair, wishing he had thought to bring his pipe along. In front of him was a boy, who despite all his bravado still harboured serious issues about his self worth. _

_He stood up again and placed a reassuring palm on Seo's head, "What is your name?" _

_The boy removed the hand ruffling his hair with a glare at the smirking blonde, "What are you talking about? You know my name already." _

"_I do." Naruto said with a level smile, "I'm just checking if YOU know your name." _

_Seo scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, "I'm... Seo Kaoru?"_

_Naruto smiled serenely, "Good. So you know that he is smarter than you. He's better at thinking, and he makes friends easier than you. He's cool and everybody admires him more than you. That doesn't mean that you're not important either. That's why he isn't Seo Kaoru. So what if you're just an orphan, if you're not as smart? You're braver and you can think in ways that he can't. So why are you comparing yourself to him?" He ruffled the boy's hair and yawned widely, "Be proud that you are Seo Kaoru, brave, strong and faithful. Despite the way he looks, Takehito is rather flaky, so I'm counting on you to support him when he wavers." _

_The older man went meandering out, looking for a bed but not before leaving one last line, "Don't forget that." _

******Unwavering Sky******

"Ufufufu... Finally!" in the dark room, a woman with large round and shiny glasses laughed in an utterly creepy manner as she rapidly typed away on her keyboard. Unlike Minato Sahashi's history, the other new tenant's files had been ridiculously difficult to collate. Rather than a lack of effort, his files were scattered all over the continents for some reason.

Naruto Uzumaki, born 1978 was 42 years old this year, even if he sure as hell didn't look like it. Elementary, Middle and High school records were spotlessly clean with consistent results that registered squarely in the middle in the bell curve. Shortly after inheriting a tidy sum from some sort of distant uncle after graduation, the mysterious blonde seemed to jump all over the world, presumably sightseeing, before finally moving into New Tokyo, but unlike anyone else in his position would have done, the blonde settled for a quiet life with the occasional odd job and regular donations to charity, not a single late payment on electricity or even a fine.

Moved out of New Tokyo twelve years ago without an explicit reason and seemed to stay in Old Tokyo for a few years if the remote payments connected to his lone bank account were any indication. The pattern repeated itself in South America, Brazil and several other countries during those ten years until he came back here.

In conclusion?

On the surface, the blonde was a complete non-entity.

If one gathered all the fragmented information on him and viewed it as a whole, it raised several questions; especially since there was no way the flamboyant man downstairs could have led such an abnormally normal life. Anyone that could tease an enraged Miya and then SMILE at her as she tried to gut him with a kitchen knife had to be either clinically insane or seriously packing a pair.

It was like one of those spy movies where the government created a cover back story for him, it was soo exciting! Fufufu... time to dig deeper. "Nothing on the net can escape my eyes!" She started breathing heavily, "But first, time for some _relaxation._"

She pulled out some files from her special super secret folder.

...

Her glasses cracked and her eyes began bleeding.

"**GYAAAAAAAAAAH!"**

*******Unwavering Fate******

Miya sighed in contentment as she finished packaging Minato's bento with a cheerful hum. No annoying Seo, no unnecessary bloodshed and best of all, no infuriatingly serene blondes with penetrating blue eyes, yes, the day was starting to look as though the recent upheavals in Izumo Inn was coming to end, starting with what looked to be shaping up to be a decent Summer morning.

"Landlady, I'm going out!" Minato's voice floated into the kitchen from the hallway, prompting the prim and neat Landlady of Izumo Inn to hurriedly bustle out, bento in hand, "Oh wait, please take this with you." She said with a warm smile.

The brown haired boy, looking appropriately overwhelmed at the kindness bowed in thanks and smiled when his dark eyes wavered to something over her shoulder.

"Morning, Miya." Kagari's placid tone echoed through the house. She turned around the see the two remaining males of Izumo Inn on their way out, dressed in casual clothes. Though she noted that despite their casual air, the distinctly stilted air between the two of them remained.

"Oh my, you're going out?" Miya chided a slightly embarrassed Kagari gently, "You should have told me, I could have packed something for you."

The stockier blonde grinned in his customary lopsided manner, "I'm hurt. I don't get one?"

"Eat grass." Miya countered curtly, a stark difference in how she treated the smirking silver haired man.

"Fair enough." Naruto grinned and waved back as the two of them left behind Minato.

Sighing, Miya moved back to into the hall way, looking forward to soothing cup of hot tea as she ticked things off her mental list of chores; morning training with Musubi, laundry, bath, break...fast... her train of thought came to a crashing halt as another figure, a blonde dressed in blue overalls, stumbled into the hall ways, yawning lightly.

"Morning Miya, got to go to work." The rushing Naruto greeted her as he hurried past her.

A blank faced Miya stood frozen in the hall for a few minutes after the blonde had rushed past her in like a hurricane. It was only later that she realized that the blodne had addressed her without an honorific. Then again, given his selective hearing, she doubted telling him off would amount to anything much anyway.

Unfreezing with a resigned sigh, she made for the bathroom, hoping that a refreshing dip in the tub would dispel all the weirdness. Feeling extremely tired, she placed a hand on the doorknob and pulled it open all the while muttering under her breath, "It's just a prank. Just a... prank. Don't let him drag you into his paaa... ce..." only to find another **yet another blonde** already occupying the tub. The blonde, who was wearing a distinctly goofy pair of orange boxers with sprial prints on them paused in his attempts to pull on a pair of grey slacks and an official looking white doctor's labcoat as the two of them stared at each other silently.

Miya slowly closed the door and whirled around smartly, stiffly walking to the parlour, hoping for a relaxing spot of tea.

Maybe that would stop the hallucinations.

Given that this was Naruto she was talking about, **yet another blonde** made an appearance almost immediately, this one dressed in casual jeans and shirt, whistling cheerfully as he made his way towards the entrance.

"Oh Kami."

The whistling man paused with one eyebrow quirked, "Kami? You alright?" Naruto frowned in concern and leaned forward, pushing her bangs up to feel her forehead with one rough palm, "You do look a little flushed, early winter fever?"

Miya took a deep steadying breath as she batted his hand away as rough as possible and glared at him, "You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Running back into the house and changing just to trick me aren't you?" she demanded.

"Uh... No? "The older man looked decidedly scared as he edged around the purple haired woman who currently had a crazed glint in her eyes, "Bye!"

Miya felt like stabbing something. Preferably something blonde and stupid.

Heaving another looong sigh, the landlady continued her disturbingly long journey to the parlour. She found herself incredibly relieved that she did not encounter any other Narutos, a feeling that lasted right up until she pulled open the shoji to find **YET** **ANOTHER **Naruto lounging on the veranda, this one wearing a dreary brown male kimono as he sipped sake and methodically carved yet another block of wood.

The blonde even had the gall to shoot her an infuriatingly angelic smile as he pushed a small ceramic mug of tea towards her, completely ignoring the strangling motions the purple haired landlady's fingers were making, "Please don't do that so early in the morning." She bit out.

His angelic smile widened, "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"I... you..." More strangling motions complete with stabbing motions. It was only her experience in dealing with certain people, namely Seo, that stopped her from carrying out her plans while frothing at the mouth, "Never mind." Miya finally despaired and surrendered, reminding herself not to get dragged into his pace as she gracefully slumped down into a seat to take a gratefully warm drink from the offered cup.

Placing the mug down gently, she picked up some sewing she had meant to finish, but had never got around to finishing because of the aforementioned upheavals as she made small talk with the lounging blonde.

"May I ask why you're staying at home? I was under the impression that the son you abandoned was rather upset at you. Shouldn't you be doing something about it?" The blonde gave her a side long glance with something resembling respect; Miya could be surprisingly sharp with her words.

Either that or his all too composed and cultured landlady was finally loosing it. Not that it mattered to him.

It was hilariously amusing either way.

"Seo's the type to simmer on it for a while. There's no point in going there so soon."

"Oh?"

Naruto shrugged, "The idiot's extremely stubborn-"

"Like you." Miya cut in snidely, determined to get in a few digs while her composure lasted.

Ignoring her interruption, Naruto continued with a half smile, "Right or wrong, once he gets something into his head, he won't let it go. With him, you have to give him some time to think about it from different perspectives before you approach him. Any other way will just get you into a fist fight."

"I see. You seem to be experienced with children. Have you had many? You seem old enough."

The unruffled blonde merely winked at the jab, "That's for me to know and for you to find out."

She was tempted to pout at him, but stopped the urge just in time in order to maintain her dignity. Instead, she chose to steer the conversation to safer waters. A somewhat succesful tactic that somehow manage to last for an hour, to the point where she was almost hesitantly starting to hope that things were finally settling down. Of course, given the fact that she was currently sharing the house with an unbelievably **irritating** person; her hopes were dashed almost instantly.

"**GYAAAAAAAAAH!**

A certain blonde hid his smug smirk behind his sake saucer.

Beside him Miya who had been repairing a torn shirt that belonged to Minato shot him a shrewd look, her fingers never stopped moving in a fluid professional manner, taking no small amount of pride in her ability to finally take it in stride, "What did you do now?"

He returned the look with an arched eyebrow, "I find it interesting that the first thing that comes to your mind when something happens is me."

"Do you blame me?"

"Not really, no." Naruto admitted with a grin as he held up a finger to stall the rest of her questions. The reason why became obvious when the sounds of pattering feet became louder and louder until the shoji was thrown open and a white beast hurled itself at the blonde, roaring like feral beast that had been deprived of its food, **"Gyaooo!" **right up until a piece of wood smacked her right in the face mid leap and bounced off, allowing the grinning blonde to scoop it right back out of the air with a practiced move mere moments later.

The white beast fell onto the floor and skidded to a stop on her face, as if it was a puppet whose strings had been cut with a quiet "Gurk," and promptly began drooling onto the straw mat with her glasses askew.

The blonde on the other hand continued serenely shaving away at the small block of wood in his hands with a small black knife and a tiny smile as if what had just happened was nothing but an everyday occurrence.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are trying to make it more and more humiliating every time that happens." Miya noted with a sigh and closed her eyes tiredly; she had more or less given up trying to keep secrets from the scarred man. There really wasn't any point. Not when he seemed to know everything that was about to happen or made it seem like he had orchestrated them to begin with.

Both lines of thoughts were admittedly unpleasant, "So what brought this about? You never seemed interested in meeting her before."

Naruto glanced at the snoring red head on the floor, "I might have gotten a little annoyed at how all those pesky little cameras and listening devices kept making their way back in to my room and the toilet so I might have taken the liberty of misplacing them. She can peep on Minato and Kagari all she wants, but Kaho and Akitsu are off limits." He stopped to take a puff from his pipe, "Where are they anyway? I haven't seen them around the whole morning."

"I asked them to buy some groceries." The purple haired landlady answered mildly as she rolled Matsu onto her back and threw a blanket over the unsightly red head, mentally making a reminder to deal with the pervert later, "Now stop changing the topic."

"Of course. By the way, did you know there's a new club on Tokijima Avenue?"

"I've heard about it." Miya remarked carefully.

The evil smile that decorated the blonde's face answered a few of her questions, including the one about where he might have _misplaced _those cameras, "It's a disturbing little place that services a number of disgusting fetishes, including fat men getting it on with each other while they're dressed like pigs." The grin was absolutely devious as his eyes floated to the lump in the corner, "I get the impression that her desire to peep on my Sekirei will be dampened for the foreseeable future. What's her name by the way?"

"Matsu, Sekirei 002." Miya continued sewing with an intense expression, almost glaring at the piece of cloth in her hand, mostly so that she didn't glare at Matsu, not that the little pervert didn't deserve it.

She aimed a kick at the snoring lump.

It was cathartic.

"I took the liberty of clearing your room of them as well."

"Ah..." She nodded slowly, now it was personal, "I don't want to know, but I might add that I've heard about a similar club like that around 57th Avenue. Feel free to misplace any cameras you might find there."

"Of course." He chewed on his pipe thoughtfully even as his hands never stopped moving fluidly, "I might even bring Minato there. The boy needs to grow a pair. Getting laid might help him."

A sewing needle buried itself deep in the wood beside his head, "I'll thank you not to corrupt Minato-san anymore than necessary." A disturbing cold and malevolent aura combined with a sickly sweet tone of voice assaulted his senses, "He's already bad enough without help from a deviant like you."

Ignoring the disturbing yet sweet smile, he gave Miya deadpan look, completely ignoring the twanging needle by his ear, "No shit, what gave it away? The fact that he's a single, healthy young male in the prime of his life that is surrounded by a group of absolutely innately beautiful women, one of which obviously wants nothing better than to jump his bones no matter how politely she says it?"

Miya's smile widened as she held onto her urge to fillet the blonde with admirable restraint, "Minato is much too young to be doing something like that. Not to mention he can barely support himself, much less two or more other Sekireis. It doesn't help that Musubi is only fourteen no matter how developed her body looks. She's much too innocent to be doing something like that and **will not** until I'm certain she understands how meaningful a proper bond is and its consequences." Miya paused and chewed her lower lip, "At least I **think **she doesn't."

"Good point. You really can't tell with that girl. Still, my idea has merit doesn't it? My way, Musubi stays innocent and Minato gets some happy alone time **outside **of Izumo, which I'm pretty damn sure that he isn't getting right now because of how Musubi and Kusano are clinging to him." He grinned and continued teasing his landlady, "You never know with _hungry _deviants like teenage boys."

The blonde sniffed in an obviously fake manner, "Thing is; with all your interruptions, maybe one day, all that frustration will finally blow his top and then the hungry beast in him will take it all out on Musubi, not even Kusano will be safe. And it'll all be your fault. In fact, I think he's starting to slouch a lot more recently." He added slyly, "I see, I see... It must've been building up for a while now... It's unavoidable I guess"

Watching Miya turn several different shades of white was so entertaining.

He was tempted to whip out his camera. Unfortunately, his gut instincts told him that she was liable to try and castrate him if he tried.

"Wait, what does slouching have to do with this? What's building up?"

Naruto considered the fact that he managed to keep a straight face at the surprisingly innocent look of confusion of her face as nothing short of a miracle, "Why don't you ask Kagari? As a host I'm sure he has experience about that sort of thing. Maybe. But I'm surprised, who knew that the all knowing Miya would be so-"

"Do you feel like eating Maapo Tofu everyday for the next week?" Miya cut in sweetly.

Naruto blanched, "Shutting up now."

She smiled triumphantly, it wasn't a very fair win, but considering her opponent, she was determined to savour every little victory.

"You know, this would make a great show. People would pay to see the two of you arguing like an old married couple about their son's education." The third person in the room said as she munched on chips like they were popcorn.

Miya glared at her.

"If he was my husband, I'd poison that sake saucer of his."

"If she was my wife, I'd drink it." Naruto peacefully pointed out.

Uzume instantly shrank back from Mkya's glare; her eyes flitted around wildly to find something to take the heat of her as she used the packet of chips like a shield, "Ahaha... Lo-look, it's Ku-chan! What's going on? Where's your Onii-chan?"

"Nii-chan with Nee-chan." The small girl answered with a pout as she wandered towards the small part of the garden she had claimed as her own. It was clear that she was feeling left out from the conversation between Minato and this Nee-chan person.

"Nee-chan?"

"Minato-san's sister came to visit today."

"Ah..." the older blonde continued to stare at the small girl whose palm was hovering above a small green plant with a strange expression. One hand shifted towards his sleeve, where he pulled out something small and lifted it to his mouth and blew on it gently as she heard the soft and gentle tolls of some sort of a bell. Miya had not noticed it the first time around during his visit to Takehito's grave, but this time she realized that the man's left iris had slowly morphed from a crystal blue into a light purple with concentric circles. Setting down whatever was in his fist on the ground, he made shooing motions to the small statue.

"Play with Ku! The small plant began to grow far larger than it should have, reaching for her hand. It's topmost leaves began to curl around the small girl's pinkie when she heard the sound of something rustling in the grass behind her.

Kusano spun around with wide eyes, the memories of being attacked and being lost and all alone in a strange forest was all too fresh. The only thing she saw was a shadow darting through the grass, making its way towards her in little zig zags. It leapt out of the grass and landed on her chest, its solid weight pushing her down a little.

The small girl wrenched her eyes shut in fear, shivering slightly until a rough tongue seemed to run itself up her cheek.

"Mew." The dry and tiny tongue licked her again, "Mew?"

Emerald green eyes slowly opened unsurely, to find themselves looking into curious onyx eyes with slit pupils. The tiny wooden kitten on her chest cocked its head adorably and peeped again before nuzzling her chin gently, as if asking her to play.

A palm landed on her head, causing the small girl to look up into the strange man that towered above her. He was smiling in amusement, "Please play with her. She doesn't mean any harm." The man whispered.

Stepping back, the smiling blonde waved his glowing hand and made his way back towards the two women staring at the scene. Behind him, plants burst out of the ground with surprising vigour all around the little child and her tiny wooden cat that was barely large enough to fit into her palm, their leaves a lush deep green. A single vine wound its way around the giggling girl and gently lifted her up into the air where it began swaying to and fro in the wind like a green swing.

A half done shirt fell out Miya's limp fingers.

The brown haired girl slowly rubbed her temples as she stared at her chips like they had been poisoned, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Miya slowly picked up the piece of cloth with surprising poise and replied with deadly calm, "I don't know. It depends. Were you thinking, 'Holy shit, holy shit, he gave life to a block of wood,' or 'He's trying to screw with my mind again,' or 'Where is my katana when I need it?' If so... yes."

Uzumi smiled wryly, "It's starting to get to the point where anything he does surprises me anymore. I mean, it's just a statue coming to life and moving... and meowing... yeah..." Uzume trailed away looking decidedly confused.

Miya began knitting again, "I'll bet you ten thousand yen that you're wrong."

"Deal."

The two of them shook on it as the tall blonde slowly walked his way back to the veranda, wiping away tears of blood from his left eye with the back of his hand.

"Are you alright?" Miya calmly queried the blonde as she handed him a handkerchief.

"I'm fine." He gave her a half smile, "This eye was not originally mine, so I'm still have a little trouble using it after all this time."

"I see..." She didn't, but Miya being Miya, didn't show it and pressed on anyway, "Is that what you're carving all the time?"

He shrugged in return, "It's just a little trick that I can do. Plants don't really talk all that much and she looked so lonely that I let her have it." The man smiled lopsidedly, "They'll be better off spending time with someone who can take care of them rather than someone like me."

"Ah..." Somehow, the idea of being able to give life, or at least some form of it, to small wooden statues as a_ 'little trick' _was rather disturbing. She did not know a single Sekirei that could do that, not even little Kusano.

As the adults were talking, Kusano patted the vine, "Vine-san, vine-san, can you let me down?"

The wiry length seemed to nod before gently lowering her down to the ground.

Giggling happily, the small blonde girl bowed briefly and pattered her way to the strange blonde man on short feet, kitten held to her chest like a precious treasure. The man that had given her M i-chan, someone that the plants told her was a very nice person. Under his surprised gaze, Kusano clambered onto his lap and promptly fell asleep there with a little yawn, curled up like a cat, mimicking the tiny wooden feline in her hands. The two of them yawned in sync and curled up even tighter.

Bit by bit, the blonde seemed to unfreeze, before hesitantly reaching out to stroke her golden hair with a self mocking grin.

Uzume blinked, for some reason, the imposing 6 foot tall man looked strangely afraid of the tiny girl on his lap.

******Unwavering Sky******

One sunshine yellow eyebrow slowly rose at the drenched silver haired man, "What happened to you? You were fine before I left you." the only way he had in mind to describe the man at the moment was that he looked like something the cat had dragged in through the rain, and said as much to him.

"It-It's nothing... I just had a rather unpleasant encounter with a... friend." his dark eyes warily stayed on the blonde man who sat sipping his sake under the moonlight, it seemed like almost every moment the blonde was at home, he was either drinking or smoking, "I'm going to change."

When the freshly cleaned Kagari took a seat beside Naruto a few minutes later, Naruto pushed a small dish containing some cookies closer to the silver haired man, "Have some."

"Oh..." the fire user hesitantly picked one up before popping it into his mouth.

His eyes widened, "This is delicious! Where did you buy them?"

"I made them." The blonde man answered blandly.

"You can bake?" Kagari uttered incredulously.

"If it makes you feel better, I wore an apron and nothing else while I did it. Akitsu and Kaho were very happy."

Kagari slowly turned green at the rather... interesting picture. The completely serious way in which he delivered that sentence didn't help the image in Kagari's mind either.

"It was a joke."

"Ah..." Kagari shifted uncomfortably again, feeling a little envious about how unconcerned the blonde man seemed to be.

"By the way, I met Matsu today."

The silver haired man suppressed a chuckle, "That fast? I was expecting her to last a little bit longer. I assume she received the same treatment I did?"

"She probably would've but I was getting annoyed by her persistence. So I lured her out and then knocked her out with a piece of wood."

Kagari winced a little, already having firsthand experience of how Naruto tended to treat people that attacked him without provocation, "Oh? What happened then?"

"Miya _persuaded_ her to erase her entire porn stash at sword point." The blonde paused, "I assume that's the reason why she immediately went after Minato directly for her daily dose of perverseness. At any rate, it seems like she was winged a few hours ago. Miya wasn't happy."

That was an understatement.

"I can imagine. She didn't react to you?"

**Play Guilty Crown OST – Krone **

"Nope, in fact, I think she's a little scared of me, although that might have been because I did this when I asked her not to peep on Kaho or Akitsu again." the blonde's eyes glinted like sharp chips of ice and his tranquil smile looked a whole lot more sinister as the hazy phantom of a large silky red furred fox draped around his shoulder's slowly thickened until the red haze appeared almost solid. An oppressive coldness emanated from the blonde in waves of white mist. The fox yawned, showing a frozen stiff Kagari every single one of the bloody, glinting fangs in its massive jaw.

He had thought that the blonde was simply using ice powers like Akitsu until a bead of sweat dropped from his temples. That was when he realized that the actual temperature around them hadn't actually changed. Whatever the blonde was doing, it was purely mental.

"Ca-Can you please sto-stop that?" the poor man choked out with chattering teeth as he hugged himself to chase away the extreme coldness numbing him to his very extremities.

Naruto chuckled and reigned in his presence, allowing it to disappear like so much mist on a sunny morning with a simple wave.

Sighing in thanks, Kagari lit a small flame in his hands and began rapidly rubbing down to warm himself again, "You... You're really not normal."

"I never lie either." Naruto remarked blandly even as he continued to sip his sake, "I might not tell the whole truth, but I never lie. Ultimately, I am who I am, whether people choose to believe it is entirely up to them. Though I suspect Miya already does but doesn't want to confirm it."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Kagari commented, still rubbing his hands together violently, "She may not seem the type, but she's very proud of her abilities. To acknowledge you would be tantamount to kneeling down for someone like her." The two of them stared at each other and came to a silent agreement. They both acknowledged that the other was not normal; or rather Kagari finally accepted that the blonde was anything but human.

"I expected no less from her." The blonde replied with an amused murmur, "At any rate, it seems that only those that react to me can remember being knocked out by me, I have no reason to injure them outside of that. Then again, Kaho is the only precedent so far. As callous as it sounds, Akitsu probably didn't care either way. Kusano is something of an outlier since she wasn't intimidated or affected by my presence at all. Though I suspect it's only because of her age..." Naruto commented matter of factly before turning thoughtful, "That might not be the case as soon as she turns twelve or thirteen though..."

"Twelve? Why twelve?"

Naruto simply winked infuriatingly.

Despite somehow managing to have a somewhat normal conversation with the blonde so far, albeit about abnormal topics, Kagari fidgeted uneasily as the conversation went in a direction that he was still rather uncomfortable with. After a long moment of silence, he sighed, "Look, I'm sorry." He muttered quietly, "It's not fair that you keep helping me to protect the unwinged Sekireis, while I treat you like a stranger."

"I don't remember you doing anything that you need to apologize for." The older man countered blandly, "In fact, I daresay you seem to be misunderstanding something. I'm not helping you because it's the right thing to do. I'm helping you for my own reasons. You are trying to protect your siblings, all of which are super powered beings and by definition a possible security risk. By assisting you, I have managed to gather a very comprehensive list of their abilities... just in case I find a reason to emasculate your race of course." The man smiled sweetly at the very pale fire user.

Homura hesitated; it was very hard to tell when the blonde was being honest and when he was playing mind games, "Be that as it may... I've been avoiding you and you know it."

Naruto gave him a look, amused at the fire user's strange sense of honour, "You do realize that this sounds disturbingly like a confession doesn't it?"

Kagari sighed in frustration, "Look, I'm being serious. Please stop joking," He paused, "Or at least let me know when you're messing with my head so I can keep some earbuds on hand."

The blonde man shut his eyes and breathed deeply. When his eyes reopened, there was no trace of the amused glint in his eyes, "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being afraid of some**thing **like me. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say that running away and avoiding me was and is the smartest thing to do."

Kagari popped another cookie into his mouth, as he protested almost out of reflex, "I wasn't afraid of you…" He stopped himself from saying anything more when he realized the blonde was giving him a really eerie smile.

"**Are you really not afraid of me?"**

A sudden wind picked up all around them and the lights in the house flickered weakly, before abruptly dying, throwing both of them into solid inky darkness, a darkness that was so oppressing that not even Kagari's enhanced eyesight could penetrate the shroud. Deprived of his sight and smell, he could almost hear his heart thumping painfully loud and the rushing of blood to his head.

There was the sound of fingers snapping and a bright white flame appeared with a whoosh right below his chest, illuminating a set of widely grinning pearly white fangs that suddenly appeared, floating right in front of his face, **"Or are you?"**

The silver haired man swallowed and scrambled backwards with a yelp, as the small dancing flame and wide grinning jaw danced around him. The sight was frankly rather unnerving and reminded him more than a little of that weird cat from a book he had read somewhere.

The dancing ethereal flames disappeared along with the eerily wide skeleton grin and the lights came back on, flooding the veranda with soothing white fluorescent light. Kagari blinked slowly at the older man who was sitting exactly where he had been, sipping from a cup with a rather amused smile playing on his lips.

Kagari sighed before chuckling a little in a resigned tone, recognizing it as another one of the blonde's attempts to provoke a reaction from him, "You're enjoying this way too much." He murmured.

"Can you blame me? It's been years since I've had anyone to play with." The blonde impudently replied with a lopsided smirk.

The fire user couldn't help but chuckle at the childish look on the blonde's face as he held his hands up in surrender, "Fine, I'll admit that I was afraid of you at first but that isn't the real reason." Kagari admitted, "I was jealous."

Naruto gave him a perplexed look, "Of **what**?"

Another small flame came alive in the middle of Kagari's palm, bringing him welcome warmth after the coldness, "Of how easy you could control flame, you didn't fear it at all. Of how easily you could defend the Sekirei, you did not even hesitate to stop them with force."

"In case you haven't noticed, force isn't always the best way to use. I simply do not have the patience to suffer fools. Millennia of watching idiots kill themselves in all sorts of stupid ways will do that to someone." Naruto replied in an uncharacteristically bitter tone to Kagari's surprise.

It had taken him a few years to realize that saving just one person was actually worse than doing nothing because when he succeeded, it gave him hope that he could do better. Ultimately, it was just wishful thinking that set him up for even bigger failures.

That was when he understood that there was no one answer to all the world's problems short of putting everybody in a cage or nuking everyone to kingdom come.

It was the entire reason he was still here.

The silver haired man chuckled lightly, it was easier to go with the flow and not think about the implications of the man's words, "How do you do it? Controlling something as cursed and destructive as flames with such ease?"

"Practice." He answered bluntly and lifted up a hand. A spark ignited and before Kagari knew it, the blonde's palm was slathered in a thin yet incredibly intense film of white flame that seemed to lick at the blonde's skin like a purring cat. It was the same searing hand that had burned away those men's faces like the touch of a God and Kagari knew from experience that those same flames could spread to his whole body, burning everything around him with impunity.

"Fire is one of my very worst affinities. It took me several decades to be able to do this without having to regrow a new arm every time I try." Naruto commented dryly, "I wanted to see if I could replicate a friend's technique with a different element. It didn't really work because fire doesn't really pierce stuff very well," The blonde admitted sheepishly, "but it's still really cool especially when then the other guy can't touch you."

At the wide eyed look from the silver haired man, Naruto chuckled and slowly moved his fiery fist. Kagari's eyes followed the hand, mesmerized by the dancing flames, "I'm not as talented as I would have people believe." He cocked his head at the man beside him, "Your innate talent over flames is far better than mine will ever be. You should be able to do this with ease once you have the concept down."

"Oh...then it'll take longer than you expect." Kagari drooped a little, "I am... incomplete. My control over flames is erratic at best. Perhaps it will get better when I'm winged but that doesn't seem likely."

The blonde stared at him. The joker instantly vanished, replaced by a sharp commanding man that demanded respect and he did not approve of what he was seeing, "So?"

"Huh?"

"What's stopping you from trying it anyway?"

"Like I said, I can't-"

"I heard your little sob story, boy." The blonde replied sharply, "That doesn't explain why you are quitting. You control flames, they do not control you. You may be incomplete, but from where I'm sitting, the only thing stopping you from even trying is yourself. Why are you bowing to what someone told you? Someone who probably isn't even a Sekirei? Now, are you a man or do I have to super glue a pair of golf balls to you?"

Kagari sat there open mouthed at the tirade.

"**Well?!**"

Kagari's eyes snapped to his hand, and he poured every inch of his power into that one clenched fist. From beside him the blonde spoke in a soft trancelike tone that seemed to help him focus as the lights slowly dimmed, "Fire is wild, strong, majestic and passionate. Not quite unlike the wind. But unlike the wind, you cannot persuade them, cajole with them. The essence of flames lies in their passion to overcome, to burn any obstacle before them. They will not submit to someone weaker than them."

A hand covered the sweating Kagari's fist despite the roaring flames and he felt a strange strength flow from that contact.

"There is no curse, boy. Only you and him. Fight, _Homura_. And don't ever stop." The voice commanded.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Neko no Ongaeshi – Become the Wind**

When Kaho awoke the next morning, she found herself curled up into her Master's right side. She could hear Akitsu's deep breathing on her Master's other side. After the first few times of laying out separate futons for all three of them, the blonde had finally given up when both of them insisted on crawling their way into his at night anyway.

Smiling sleepily, the long haired woman brushed back her untidy hair and sighed in contentment as she burrowed her face deeper into his side, inhaling his scent.

For someone who could be so imposing and self confident, he was strangely soft and fluffy when he was asleep, and in short order, she found herself cuddling Naruto, hoping to store up as much heat as possible before she had to face the day until the warm flesh that she was nuzzling rumbled with a chuckle, "Enjoying yourself?"

"Eep!" seeing two blue eyes looking down on her in amusement, she poked the man's side viciously, "That was mean."

"You looked so happy that I didn't want to disturb you." The man countered teasingly.

"Of course I am; it's only in the mornings that I get you to myself, fuhuhu…"

"Don't be so mean to her," Naruto chastised with a wry smile, knowing that getting Akitsu to wake up early was about as futile as getting Kagari to admit that he was bi-curious. The blonde frowning slightly, "Are you alright? You're not forcing yourself right?"

"It's not so bad when it's like this." She hugged him tighter and sighed happily, "When I'm not with you, it hurts a little, like something is always pulling at my heart in your direction. But I can stand it until you decide to accept me."

The blonde man shifted one arm from underneath her so that he could run his fingers through her long hair, "It won't take much longer."

"What won't?" Kaho mumbled questioningly.

"I didn't want to be an Ashikabi, but if I have to, I want to do it properly. I know that I'm not the smartest person around, I know something about everything but not everything about something." Naruto admitted his flaws freely, "So I'm waiting for my friend to finish his tests with the information I managed to ah… _borrow_ from MBI. I want to at least try and see if I can find a way to give Akitsu-chan her wings before I do the same for you. It's only fair to her."

"Oh…" She buried her face deeper into soft shirt he was wearing, her voice muffled, "Who is this friend? Could he find something that not even MBI could?"

"If there's something wrong with Akitsu, he will find it." The blonde answered confidently. He stroked her hair gently and softly murmured with a smile, "After that, maybe we could take a little trip somewhere. Neither of you have ever been outside Tokyo have you? I want to show you that there's a lot more things worth living for then ju-"

Kaho reached up and laid her palm on the blonde's lips, silencing him, "Don't say anymore. Please…"

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched in concern, his eyes asking her if he had said something wrong since his lips couldnt.

The black haired Sekirei slinked upwards until she was pinning the blonde under her body with her messy hair covering her eyes. She luxuriated in the feeling the contours of his body through their thin night clothes, her hips directly straddling his groin as she leaned in slowly, "Don't say anymore. If you do, I really won't be able to stop myself from wanting you more." She laid her forehead on his and her lips lingered briefly on the back of the palm that separated their lips.

She whispered lightly, "I love you Master. I can tell that you don't love either of us in the way we want… but thank you for caring so much."

The blonde removed her palm and brushed back her hair so that he could peer into the depths of her deep black eyes, a great contrast with the dry grey he had always thought it was, staring down at him. The blonde quirked his lips at the flickering flames in their depths, a desire to prove herself to him, "What do you want for breakfast? I'll make anything you want for today."

Despite her refined manners, Kaho ate just as much as Musubi, probably even more, and was even pickier than her little sister when it came to her food.

Kaho beamed at her Master.

"Ah…. Envious…." Akitsu had finally awoken and was staring up at the two of them with sleepy eyes.

******Unwavering Sky******

A rather disgruntled Miya glared at the blonde who had usurped **her** kitchen from her, again, early in the morning from the corner of her eyes. The man in question was humming a tranquil song as he set out enough plates for everyone staying in Izumo Inn.

"Maple syrup, honey, strawberry jam, marmalade," Naruto listed out as he set down a few jars with a smile, "Pick your poison and enjoy. They go with the tea as well."

Grudgingly, Miya ladled a few and dollops of maple syrup onto the perfectly browned circles of dough on her plate that was liberally sprinkled with flakes of butter and cut into the crispy pancakes. One bite later, she had a very hard time trying to stop herself from matching Akitsu's measured ferocity. She had never been very good at cooking western styled dishes.

Still...

"Can I have my kitchen back now?" Miya requested pointedly.

"Of course," Naruto he watched Akitsu and Kaho managed to vigorously cut their waffles into small pieces and somehow make it look dainty with a smile, sweat dropping as Akitsu froze her waffles into ice cubes and start chewing on them with a blank look. Only the slight widening of her narrow eyes told him that she approved, "Lunch is a while away though, are you going somewhere?"

The woman slowly nodded, "I want to make some boxed lunches for myself. Today is Takehito-san's anniversary. I'll probably be out till late."

"Ah..."

"Will you be coming?" She asked carefully.

The blonde man gave her a strained smile as he got up slowly, suddenly losing all his appetite, "No... I don't think I will. Have a good day."

If he went to the anniversary of everybody he had once known, he would never leave the graveyard. The scarred man made it a point to only visit once and never again, never looking back. Retreating to the veranda again, the blonde sighed and picked up another one of his unfinished carvings.

"Naruto-sama?"

"Master?"

He looked up from his carving and blinked, "Kaho, Akitsu? Is everything fine? Shouldn't you two be eating breakfast?"

The two of them shared a look and the more taciturn Akitsu subtly elbowed Kaho with barely a change in expression, much to the blonde's amusement. The two of them got along surprisingly well despite their little competitions for his attention. Grumbling under her breath at being elected as the spokeswoman, the black haired woman seemed to gather her resolve, "We... felt that you were upset."

Their Ashikabi's laughter in a gravelly tone, "I'm fine really." For the first time since meeting him, the man whose hands and face were scarred so badly truly looked like an old man, "This is something normal I guess. Despite everything, I'm human too I guess. There are bad days, there are good days and everything has a price." He took a seat and began carving again with a small blade that appeared out of nowhere, almost like magic. The two of them moved in sync, kneeling beside the blonde and leaning into him, content to just keep him company.

"Have the two of you ever thought about what you wanted to do in the future?"

Kaho wrinkled her nose in confusion, "Future? You mean how are we going to deal with the Plan?"

Naruto snorted in amusement, keeping his eyes on the slowly forming piece of wood, "I mean after that. Just forget about the Plan for a while, assume that farce never existed. What do the two of you want to do?"

Akitsu sighed in content and nuzzled the arm she was holding, replying without any hesitation, "… I don't care… as long as I'm with you."

He smiled wryly, that was more or less the answer he had expected from the ice user.

Kaho on the other hand looked vaguely thoughtful, "I think that all of us," she glanced at the content Akitsu, "Or at least almost all of us, are more concerned with the Sekirei Plan. I don't think any of us even thought about what we're going to do afterwards… Assuming we can stay with our chosen ones."

Her voice dropped to a half whisper and she leaned into Naruto as well, mimicking her colleague with a soft smile, "It's the reason I want to be with you. That day, when I was still looking for my Ashikabi, I found myself lost. I was so excited about finally leaving that I left my supplies in MBI," Kaho admitted reluctantly while Naruto simply smirked.

It seemed that the two sisters weren't all that different after all.

"Hungry and a more than a little confused, I asked some passerby's for help. They were so welcoming and supportive that I failed to notice their malicious intentions, not knowing that they poisoned the drinks. It was too late when I realized what was happening and I was cornered in that alley, the drugs didn't knock me out like they were meant to, but I was unable to even focus long enough to use a smidge of my strength to get away. But then you dropped out of the sky, literally on fire like some angel of vengeance and saved me..." She held him tighter, "When I woke up while you were talking to Akitsu in that balcony. The way you told her that what she wanted to do was up to her, the way you asked her _what _she wanted to do, it made me feel really warm. I knew then, that I wanted an Ashikabi that would looked at me as if I was my own person. I made it my goal; I want to fight in the Plan, but not because of the Plan. I want to do it because I want to ask all the other Sekirei that same question; **What do YOU want to do**? After that…." Kaho timed the rest of her sentence for the blonde's next mouthful of tea, onyx irises glittering with mischief, "Afterwards.. well I guess a two children and a cat is a good place to start."

Predictably, Naruto spit his tea out with a spray as she giggled loudly, "Wait, what?"

Kaho snickered at the adorably confused look on her Ashikabi's face, "Nothing~" she sing songed cheerfully.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the her wide smile, it was a little strange to see how much pleasure she took from just playing with him, "It's a little much too late, but I should probably ask you two though," His blue eyes gazed at them with unusual seriousness, "Are you sure you want to stay with me? My life isn't going to be easy."

Akitsu spoke first without any hesitation whatsoever, "We will follow you. Now and forever."

"Regrettably, of course," Kaho teased, "I, for one, would have preferred a better looking Ashikabi."

A snowball hit her face.

"Akitsu!"

"Scars... sexy." Akitsu remarked in her usual expressionless manner.

Naruto found himself stuck in the middle of the most bizarre debate he had ever heard to date; a debate that was centred around which one of his scars the two of them found the most sexy.

It was a very uncomfortable place to be.

He found Kaho to be a strange Sekirei, but that just proved despite having abilities and skills that defied reality, they, like every human on the planet, had feelings and desires, and each of them were different in their own way. The dark haired woman was tall, gentle and refined… when Naruto wasn't around for her to play with. However, he also noticed that she had a very strong set of principles that she seemed to operate by and once she had made her mind about something, she did whatever she could to achieve it.

Unfortunately for Naruto, not messing with her Ashikabi wasn't included in those set of rules, like now;

"He has a very nice one on his butt!"

"...Really?"

"Here, look."

"Ka-Kaho! Stop pulling my pants off! Rather, when did you even see me my butt?! Akitsu! STOP HELPING HER! We're on the VERANDA!"

"Ah... does that mean we can do this inside?"

"**NO!** And stop looking so blatantly depressed about something like that!**"**" the blonde could actually see her deflating despite the fact that her facial muscles hadn't budged an inch before suddenly brightening up again, "Does this mean you will spank me because I was naughty?"

Naruto choked.

"**NO!** Who the heck even taught you about that?"

"Uzume - san."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Author's Note **

**P.S:** Someone mentioned that Unwavering Sky got a tvtropes entry... somewhere (I couldn't find it). Nevertheless, Yay! We're always hoping that our works get their own pages someday. Though I guess they have to get a little bit longer first.


	8. Now and Forever

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 8**

**Now and Forever**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

Basically, a majority of reviews and messages we got wanted Tsukiumi and Kazehana with Naruto. That brought up several problems, I could leave them with Minato while Naruto more or less does his own thing which is of course what I'll focus on, which means Minato and co would have become satellite characters.

However, if I put them with Naruto, we pretty much have to write a whole new plot line, not to mention it's already difficult enough for us to give Kaho and Akitsu enough lines to properly flesh them out and Minato becomes even MORE of a satellite character.

In the end?

We flipped a coin.

Unrelated side note; Kishi, calculative bastard that he is, wanted to save this chapter till Valentine's Day. I overruled him with ONEE-CHAN POWAH!

You may bow now.

******Soundtrack list******

Stephanie – Friends

Play The Fray – How to save a Life

Taylor Swift – Safe and Sound

Yumi Shizukusa – Hana Kagari

******Unwavering Sky******

_Naruto looked up from his work as he heard the voices of his two twelve year old wards arguing echo through the old Japanese styled mansion as they came home from school. Pushing back his glasses, he coughed politely as the two yelling boys entered the lounge, "Is there something wrong?"_

_Both of them instantly quietened and took a seat, backs straight and legs properly folded, knowing that the blonde disliked loud noises while he was writing his stupid novels. Both of them pointed at the other with accusing fingers, "It's HIS fault!" they shouted simultaneously._

"_Forgive me for being a little out of the loop but," He said expectantly, "exactly what is this fault you two are talking about?"_

_Seo jumped at the question with a wide grin, "Takehito has a crush, but he's too scared to do anything about it!"_

"_I do not!" the silver haired boy nudged Seo in the side with a little more force than necessary, "I just thought Mikoto-san was cute! And I thought we agreed that we weren't going to tell ANYONE?!"_

"_Naruto doesn't qualify as anyone, he's someone." Seo pointed out smugly, "Besides, you agree with me right? If Takehito likes someone, he should just go and tell her instead of being all wishy washy."_

_Takehito snorted derisively, "Says the idiot that can't even look Kotomi-san in the eye before running away with a nosebleed." He glanced at the blonde, "Wait, you're not upset?"_

"_Why in the world would I be upset about the two of you having feelings for girls?" The blonde grinned mischievously and set aside his papers in lieu of some better entertainment, "The two of you are already twelve, and you have the right to like whoever you want. So…. May I know who these girls in question are?"_

_The fact that Seo was currently twiddling his thumbs shyly at the mere mention of this Kotomi girl just made what he had in mind all the more sweeter. _

"_They're twins in the same class as us," Takehito answered matter of factly, "Kotomi and Mikoto Kumashiro, Kotomi is only one rank under me in class and Mikoto is one of our school's top athletes."_

"_Kumashiro?" The blonde rubbed one finger along his jaw, "Sounds rather familiar. Doesn't their family own that bakery in town?"_

"_Yes… but…" Takehito paled dramatically, "for the love of all that is holy, please don't say that you know their mother or aunt…. Actually just stay away from them. Period."_

"_Why do I feel like my image in your eyes is gradually getting lower and lower?"_

"_It was never high to start with."_

"_I'll take that as a compliment." Naruto replied somewhat smugly, "So? What's the problem?"_

_Takehito muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'bloody pervert' under his breath, "It's nothing… Seo just keeps trying to force me to confess." _

_The silver haired boy shivered a little as the blonde propped his chin on one hand with an almost predatory smile on his lips that looked vaguely fox-like, "And from the looks of things, the two of you are too chicken to do anything about it right?"_

_Seo shot upwards, shaking a fist at the blonde, "Who the heck are you calling chicken!? I'll…. I'll….." he slowly turned red again and began fiddling with his trousers._

"_You'll what? Die of a nosebleed while you fantasize about confessing?" Takehito asked snidely, causing the blonde to chuckle at Seo's expense. _

"_C'mon Seo, where are your balls? Just bash in there full of confidence like how you usually are and forcefully take what's yours, that's how you've always done it right? Why are you wavering now?" Naruto urged the reluctant Seo firmly._

_The dark haired boy growled at his best friend, "In your dreams, mushroom boy! Let's have a bet shall we? First one to confess and get a date for the Sports Festival wins. Loser pays for the date!"_

"_Done!" Takehito confidently shook Seo's hand and the two of them watched Seo storm out of the lounge. An amused Naruto watched Takehito slowly deflate as the burst of adrenaline left him, culminating by collapsing into a moaning lump as the full implications of the bet he had just made finally hit him, "I'm gonna dieeeeee! This is going to be so embarrassing! She's never going to look at me like a normal person ever again!"_

"_Probably." Naruto agreed with an easy smile._

_Under the table, Takehito made a grunt that vaguely sounded like a wounded moose and kicked Naruto's leg, "Not…. helping."_

"_Wasn't trying." The blonde replied succinctly, "Why are you so scared anyway? Don't you know a lot about animal mating habits?" _

_A head of silver hair peeked up at him from under the table, "Huh? Well yeah, but what does that have to do with this?" _

"_Of course it will," the blonde replied gruffly, "Humans aren't that much different from animals right? Humans need food as much as animals do; everybody is ultimately driven by a need to reproduce like animals are, that's why there are so many perverts in this world! And just like simple animals, women always go for the flashiest males that catch their attention. Use all that knowledge you have gathered; combine it into one indestructible force and confess!" _

_Takehito eyed at him sceptically, "Ehh…. Will something like that really work?" _

_Naruto nodded with a confident expression but under the table he was pinching his leg so hard that he was sure it was going to bruise for the next month, "No worries, women are simple minded creatures after all. Go for it!"_

"_Huh…. You're right. Tomorrow I'm going to confess! Thanks, Tou-san!"_

_The moment Takehito ran out of the room to prepare, the dignified blonde made a reminder to bring a camera to the Sports Festival and buy two very large tubs of ice cream. _

_**Next Day with Takehito.**_

_A young girl whose hair was tied back into a side pony tail on the left side of her head gently pushed open the door to the roof, "Asama-san? I got your let….ter…?" she took a step back in shock. _

_Takehito had taken Naruto's advice a little too literally. _

_The lone person on the roof, dressed in nothing but gym shorts and… colourful light bulbs strapped to his chest, whirled around, looking vaguely nervous as a large… fan made of dropped peacock feathers taped to his back fluttered around in the wind, "A-Ano…. Mikoto… I… uh….." _

"_**HENTAI**__!"_

_The door shut with a loud bang. _

_Takehito's jaw hit the ground._

_**With Seo**_

"_Kotomi!" Seo hid his nervousness as he boisterously hailed at the black haired girl in their school's uniform, her hair tied into a neat bun on the right side of her head, "Wanna go on a date with me?"_

_The twelve year old girl looked rather scared as she stepped back from Seo, "I-I'm sorry, but I have something to do…." _

_Seo dropped to his knees dramatically, "Huh!? But why? We're SOULMATES, we BELONG together! C'mon, we should go out before we get married!"_

"_N-No!"_

"_Wait!" Seo grabbed her hand to stop her from running away._

"_Kyaaa!"_

"_Huh? What is that dangerous looking red canister that is about to be sprayed into my-" Kotomi sprayed the aforementioned dangerous looking red canister into his face, "GYAAAAAAAAH! My EYES! OH GOD IT BURNS!"_

_**With Naruto**_

"_GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE SO WE CAN KICK IT YOU BASTARD!"_

_Naruto cackling insanely as he ran away from Seo who looked as if he had put his face to a cheese grater and Takehito who was lugging his home made peacock fan, looking for all the world like a portable Christmas tree, "Have you learnt your lesson yet, brats?!"_

_That was the day Takehito and Seo learned how to focus enough Killing Intent to form a representation of their emotions._

"_Lesson my fracking ass, now get yours back here so I can shove my foot up it!" Seo roared as a vague blob shadow formed behind him._

"_Not before I break it with a goddamned BRICK!" Takehito hissed, his own shadow shouldering Seo's out of the way with its malformed arms._

"_I GOT PICTURES!"_

"_SOMEONE GET ME A SLEDGEHAMMER!"_

"_YOU. SO. DEAD!"_

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Stephanie - Friends**

A small brown toad carefully leapt up onto the veranda, "Yo, Boss, I got a message for ya."

The man he addressed looked up from his newspaper in mild surprise as he accepted the small tube containing the message, "Oh, I thought it might have taken a little longer. Good work, go find Sakuya. She'll know what to do."

"Osu! Good luck, Boss!" The small toad, one of the newer recruits if he wasn't wrong, gave him a salute and a good guy pose before returning to the Toad Realm in a puff of smoke.

Unrolling the tube, Naruto carefully pulled out the paper and glanced over its contents briefly.

"What's that, Naruto-sama?" An inquisitive Musubi thrust her nose into the paper from behind him, "Muu? I can't read this…. This is different from Minato-sama's books…."

Gently tapping her nose, he pushed the excitable girl back with a chiding look, "It's not polite to read other people's letters Musubi-chan."

She cocked her head at him cutely, "Eh? Really?" tapping her head with one fist she smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, common sense is very hard."

"It's alright." He glanced aside to where Kaho was carefully sharpening her naginata with a focused expression, "Are the two of you done training?"

"Yup! Musubi is hungry now!"

The blonde grinned and pulled out a cream puff that he discreetly dangled in front of the overly happy brown haired girl with a wink. Musubi smiled brightly and quietly held out one hand like a paw, "Woof, woof, woof." She barked quietly so that Kaho couldn't hear her.

"Good girl." Naruto murmured and dropped the puff into her palm, "Did you like training with Kaho?"

The girl in the red gloves nodded energetically, "We always trained together in MBI. I really missed fighting with Kaho-nee." She nuzzled the blonde's hand and looked up at the grizzly blonde with big shining brown eyes, "Thanks for bringing her here, Naruto-sama. Thank you so much."

The blonde ruffled her hair with a somewhat strained smile at Musubi's almost palpable gratefulness, "I…I…. well, you should be thanking Kaho then. She was the one who found me. A-Anyway let me show you a new trick."

The brown haired girl's eyes practically began gleaming, "Nuuu? Trick? Are you good at fighting, Naruto-sama?! Can we fight?"

"You could say that." Naruto answered glibly before standing up and rolling back his sleeves, "And no, I'm afraid that you might have to get a little stronger before we fight alright?"

Musubi chittered happily before jumping up to mimic the blonde's open legged stance.

"I've seen you punch before, but let's add a little twist to it." The blonde's fist turned so that his palm was facing upwards; in one smooth move he thrust forward, "Measure your distance to your target and flow. Just when you're about to hit your opponent, use your entire body like a spring to twist your attack from a standard uppercut into a straight jab at the very apex." He demonstrated the move on empty air in slow motion.

After repeating the manoeuvre a few times, Musubi nodded confidently, "I think I understand, but what does it do?"

The blonde hummed for a moment before beckoning a watching Kusano over. Kneeling before the small girl, he rubbed her head, "Ku-chan, can you do me a favour?" when the small blonde nodded, Naruto continued, "Summon a big BIG tree for me can you?"

"Ku can do it!" the small girl scrunched up her nose and concentrated as a large oak tree, at least two feet in diameter sprung from the ground in a dazzling display of her powers. Grinning lightly, the blonde stood up again and waved Musubi over, "Watch me do this properly."

Standing a little closer to the tree than normal, he retook the same stance and breathed out once before moving. From the very balls of his feet, the energy flowed into an upper cut. The moment his fist was about to touch the bark, the momentum changed, the upper cut spiralled into a straight blow that stopped upon contact, reducing a healthy 12 feet tall oak tree into kindling with a mere tap.

"Uwoooh! Naruto-sama is so strong!" Musubi and Kusano clapped happily as the tree trunk literally exploded in all directions; the spinning motion dispersed all the force evenly across the surface of the trunk. Grinning at their enthusiasm, Naruto ruffled their hair once more before heading into the house with a cheerful hum.

"You're good with children." A watching Kaho noted softly as Naruto entered the house.

"You could say that."

"That or your mental age is similar to one."

Naruto hummed gruffly, "You should go and bath. It's almost dinner time."

Kaho hummed to herself as she watched Naruto ascend the stairs without another word. There was one other thing she had suspected earlier. Little things like a stiff posture whenever Kusano and her Mi-chan jumped on him for a piggy back, but seeing him with Musubi had confirmed it; her Ashikabi was surprisingly easy to overwhelm whenever someone showed him sincere gratitude. It was as if he never expected to be thanked for anything he did, to a point where he seemed unable to deal with it if he was caught off-guard.

Kneeling down, the black haired shrine maiden picked up a small wooden shrapnel and pocketed it with a curious little hum, glancing briefly at the lawn where Kusano was summoning several more trees and watching with wide encouraging eyes as Musubi tried to properly replicate the move with little success.

Upstairs on the landing of the second floor, a large and scarred hand gently knocked on the door before the blonde spoke dryly, "Pervert Glasses, you in there? I'm coming in."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he heard something scuffling, cloth rustling and someone bumping into the wall, as he stepped into the dark and cramped room with a grimace. "Ah…." He drew a deep breath with a sarcastic smile, "The smell of rot and corruption after too much pureness always gets me in a good mood."

That was the thing about having a good nose; you couldn't just turn it off whenever you wanted and given his ultra-sensitive olfactory senses, an unwashed room that smelled like week old food cartons and unwashed bodies was NOT a pleasant experience.

"Hiieeek!"

The red haired girl in the white dress was far too scared to say anything in reply as she tried to scrabbled on the wall, trying to get away from the very scary blonde man. He sighed and gingerly took a seat on the cleanest piece of floor that wasn't either covered in old wrapping paper or dirty white futon, "Will you calm down? I'm not going to bite."

"Wh-what do you want? I kept my promise! I haven't been spying on you or your Sekirei!" the girl in white blabbered in a panic, her flushed and already pale skin only made her look like even more like a ghost when illuminated by the seven computer screens set on the far side of the room.

"Relax, I just need a favour." Naruto replied calmly as he set down a small bag.

She actually began sobbing into the wall much to the former assassin's amusement, "Wha-whatever it is, I can't help you! I don't wanna die! Takehito-chan told me that making a deal with the devil is baaaad! WAAAAAA!"

Matsu had met many people in her nineteen years of conscious life and she could confidently say that there were very few things that could truly scare her; like Karasuba or badgers, or an angry Miya.

Then she met **him**.

The unassuming blonde who was calmly kneeling on the other side of the room as he opened a bag could top every single one of them hands down with a polite smile.

"Are you sure? I mean, I've been to a lot of places before and picked up some items that might of be interest to someone of your nature." Naruto casually said as he placed the stack of paper face down on the tatami.

She stopped bawling and peeked over her shoulder warily, "What items?"

He flipped the first item over, revealing a carefully packaged box.

"Duwah! A first edition and mint visual novel from Type-Sun!" Matsu whimpered weakly, "They stopped making those fifteen years ago!" She began breathing heavily as her fingers involuntarily began inching towards the picture.

He flipped the next item over with a knowing smile, "And this one is a perfectly preserved doujinshi from a rather famous circle, CLAP before they started drawing officially. I heard that you collected them."

Her eyes began to sparkle as she crawled over to the blonde man on all fours, "Haaa…haaa…. Please… no more…. You Devil….stop!"

The evil grin he shot her did absolutely nothing to dissuade her from that particular notion, "I also happen to have some very rare novels that are no longer published. Each one of them are worth nearly 50000 yen." By the time he gently laid the book with an orange cover down, he already knew he had won. The red head was all but drooling, but retained enough of her sanity to remember not to soil the precious items.

"Yo-You are the DEVIL!"

Hook, line and sinker.

Naruto smiled sweetly as Matsu practically began licking the book; luckily he had a few spares, "Now about that favour…hehehe"

Matsu sniffed sadly as she sat back up, "It's almost time for dinner, I'll do it afterwards," Shuffling aside her futon, she began prying up a section of the floorboards. Feeling around in the dark, Naruto heard a click as the under most layer popped open and she carefully hid her newly procured items in a neat pile before replacing the double floorboards.

"You're like a perverted high school boy hiding his dirty magazines." Naruto noted dryly.

She squinted at him as if he was stupid, "Miya will kill me if she knew about my pile of treasures."

The blonde titled his head, "But why? Why are you hiding something you should be PROUD off? Those treasures are crying you know, being hidden under a dusty floor board like that, it's an INSULT! Are you really happy with yourself? Hiding your love for ERO like that?"

Naruto stood up and pointed at the red haired woman who currently had her mouth agape, "That's why you are hiding up here like a hermit, you are weak! You hid your love for erotic things when it can make you POWERFUL!"

"Har? Powerful?"

The blonde lowered his voice seductively, "That's right, you see it in the news everyday don't you? High ranking people, presidents, ministers are always getting caught for doing lewd things. How do you think they got that position in the first place," He threw up his hands with a reverent expression, "It's because they're PERVERTED. Everybody on earth is perverted, but only those that show it shamelessly are strong. Without a love for porn, Earth would be an empty wasteland! It's what drives us to succeed."

The red head stood up shakily, her long red hair hiding her eyes, "Th-that's right, why am I hiding in here with shame? I should be proud of myself!"

"That's it! Let it go, Matsu, be proud of your eroticism," Naruto goaded slyly, "Then and only then you'll be strong enough to experiment with Minato as well as beat Miya!"

"I will BEAT MIYA!" As the red head ran out of the room screaming, the blonde sat back down, twiddling his thumbs with an innocent whistle as he mentally counted down to the inevitable.

"ERO IS KAMIIIII-" There was the sound of Matsu bumping into somebody, "Gak, Mi-Mi-Miya?!"

"Care to say that again?" Miya asked in an incredibly calm tone. There was a lengthy silence, then, "I-I-I CAN WIN-**Smack**-NOT THE FACE, NOT THE FACE** –SMACK-**!"

Whistling ever so innocently, Naruto strolled out of the little closet of a room with his hands in his pocket and descended the stairs to see Miya standing in the hallway, broken ladle in one hand and panting lightly with one foot on the bruised and beaten lump of flesh that used to be Matsu.

"You're going to need a new ladle." The blonde observed with a smile.

"This…." The lump of flesh whimpered piteously as Miya stepped on her again, "Is your fault isn't it?"

"It's not polite to accuse people without proof you know," Naruto bowed in an extravagantly over the top manner with one hand flourishing at the dining room, "That aside, Ladies first don't you think?"

She shot him a fierce look as she walked past him, dragging Matsu along like a side of beef, "I'm not forgetting this."

It was proof of how things normally were in Izumo when no one even commented about Miya stomping into the dining hall and throwing the bruised lump of flesh into her seat while a widely grinning Naruto followed shortly after. All of them simply continued eating as if it was a normal occurrence and chalked it up to Naruto messing with Miya and Matsu again.

Then again, it might have been because Miya looked as if she was about to start a massacre.

The moment the food was cleared, Matsu ran off like a rabbit the moment she was done, anxious to start studying the _reference material_ that the blonde had loaned to her while the oldest male in the room sighed happily as he leaned back onto the wall and patted his full tummy happily after a satisfying dinner, somehow miraculously ignorant of the tense atmosphere and a simmering Miya. The blonde was more than content to laze around when Miya spoke up authoritatively, "Naruto, go wash the plates."

"Ehh… Don't wanna, I feel lazy."

"Even if you **are** an unmitigated bum, at least try to** act** like a normal civilized person while you're at home will you?" Miya said sweetly as a demonic mask began hovering somewhere around her shoulder.

Rather than reacting to it like any sane person would, Naruto sighed theatrically, "You know, recently I've been hearing rumours of someone attacking innocent people. They should really learn how to clear up their tracks after ambushing lone Sekireis. I'm sure the victims weren't nice people but its just manners-."

Uzume slapped her hand over his mouth in a hurry, "GYAAAH! NOOO! I'll wash the plates Miya, I'll do it!" She leaned in closer and hissed at him angrily, "This is payback for telling Akitsu about getting spanked isn't it?!"

The blonde shrugged and smirked, "Who knows. Although, I'd be very grateful if you decided to wash the plates for the next month or so. Out of the kindness of your heart of course."

"Of course…" Uzume growled as she sent him one last glare before she stood up, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, "Kindness your huge ass."

Minato looked appropriately confused as Uzume practically sprinted towards the kitchen with Miya and Kagari, "She must be really afraid of scary stories."

"Uh… yeah, let's go with that." Naruto tried to look at his behind, "Does my ass really look huge?"

"Absolutely titanic." Kagari supplied none too helpfully as he re-entered the dining hall, carrying a platter of bowls filled with dessert, juicy looking rock melon slices that he began passing out to everyone sitting around the table.

Naruto clapped his hands happily, "Cold melon in summer. It's good to be alive." His plate arrived in front of him, "….Eh?"

Two black lonely seeds sat alone in his bowl.

His eyebrows twitched as he glanced at Kaho and Akitsu's overly large portions, "There's obviously something wrong with my share isn't there?"

"You'll have to take it up with Miya." Kagari replied sweetly, "She said that people who stir up trouble but don't work don't deserve dessert either."

Naruto gave his Sekireis a pleading look, "Can I have-"

"No." Both of them shot back instantly. They had never tasted something as wonderful as this before and were determined not to share.

"Some? Oi! That was fast! I haven't even finished my question yet!" Naruto pouted and tried another approach, "Kaho, you haven't bathed yet right? Why don't you go first? I'll look after your melons for you."

The black haired Sekirei smiled sweetly, if her Master thought she was gullible just because she was released from M.B.I recently then he really had some thinking to do, "Miya-san! Naruto wants me to STRIP so he can devour my MELONS!"

"That's not entirely wrong, but why do I feel like I'm about to get **-Smack**- Geboh!" Naruto's half-finished prediction was cut short by a new ladle that came flying out of the kitchen at lethal speeds and scored a direct hit on his forehead.

"Is he still being a pervert?" Miya's voice floated in from the kitchen.

"Nope." Kaho smiled delightedly as she poked the swirly eyed blonde with one toe, "Thanks for the assist, Miya-san."

"You're welcome Kaho-chan." in the kitchen Miya sighed to herself. Now she needed **two **new ladles. Shrugging, she just decided to charge it to the blonde idiot; he broke both of them indirectly after all.

Back in the dining hall, a small fist tugged on Naruto's sleeve, "Naru-nii?"

Rubbing the bump on his forehead a little, Naruto looked down at the small blonde girl who lifted up her bowl of melon slices, "Wanna share?"

The older blonde smiled faintly and ruffled her messy hair affectionately, "You're so kind, Ku-chan, but it's alright. I'm not really hungry anymore." He fed her a small piece of melon before giving his two Sekireis a dry look at their attempts to stuff their faces as daintily as possible, "The two of you should learn from Ku-chan."

"….Tomorrow." Akitsu mumbled as she polished off the last of her melon flavoured ice cubes.

Naruto rolled his eyes and continued feeding the small blonde girl. Leaning back on the wall, the blonde let out a slow breath as he gazed around the dining hall with a strange sense of detachment. Minato and Kagari were talking in a corner as Musubi listened in with a confused expression at the tough words the two men were using. He could hear Uzume and Miya quietly chatting in the kitchen while they washed the dishes and his sharp ears easily picked up Matsu's heavy giggling on the second floor.

How many more times would he be allowed to see this peaceful scene?

A weight settled itself on his lap, interrupting his thoughts as the small yellow bundle yawned cutely and snuffled sleepily.

The blonde simply smiled faintly as he glanced down at the tiny blonde girl snoozing on his lap and amused himself by poking her bloated tummy with one finger, causing her to make a complaining whine and turn around into a more comfortable position, curling herself deeper in his lap. The movement dislodged the small kitten in her hands, which mewled at him to show its displeasure.

Grinning even wider, he poked it as well, causing the wooden kitten to snap at him and try to gnaw on his finger, which went about as well as one would expect with its blunt wooden teeth. He poked its tummy again, causing the kitten to hiss at him before curling up into a small ball and freezing over into a wooden statue again in an attempt to give him the cold shoulder.

"It's time for bed, huh?" the blonde blew a few strands of yellow hair out of his face and carefully picked Kusano up.

Feeling a little sleepy himself, the blonde climbed the stairs to tuck Kusano into the futon reserved for her in Miya's room. Once the small girl was safely ensconced in the small futon, the older blonde was about to leave when Kusano's small hand wrapped around his finger, "Don't go yet..." Kusano mumbled quietly.

Naruto scratched the back of his head uncertainly as he looked to Akitsu and Kaho for some help. When both of them shrugged, Kaho complimenting it with a sly grin, he knew that help was definitely not going to be coming from the two of them. Sighing, he clumsily sat down since Kusano refused to let go of his finger, "You wanna hear a bed time story?"

"What's…. that?" She asked with sleepy green eyes.

"You don't know what a bed time story is?" Naruto quirked one curious eyebrow at the small girl.

All three Sekirei in the room shared a confused glance, "Is it… tasty?" the silver haired Akitsu asked with a tilt of the head, a sign of her curiosity.

Sometimes, he wondered which was more important to Akitsu; food or him.

Naruto chewed his lower lips before beckoning for Akitsu and Kaho to come closer, "A bed time story... is a story we tell at bed time?"

Kaho gave him a pointed look, causing Naruto to chuckle, "Just bear with me." Gently stroking Kusano's hair, he racked his mind for a few moments before shrugging, "Long time ago, there was a Hero, he was one of the strongest, handsomest and most powerful people in a village filled with Heroes."

Naruto's voice lowered until it was thrumming throughout the room as Kusano, Akitsu and Kaho subconsciously closed their eyes to imagine better, "One day, an old King asked him to rescue a Princess. To rescue the Princess, he needed to build a bridge but there was an Oni and his partner, a YukiOnna. The two of them were hired by a big fat Pig Monster to keep the Princess locked up. The Hero agreed, together, he and his three friends, a Duck, a Tree and a Scarecrow travelled with the Old King."

Kusano giggled loudly at the image and Naruto's silly expression as he described the Pig Monster, "The three of them fought with the Oni and the YukiOnna for the Princess." The little enthralled blonde girl giggled as he modulated his voice, mimicking the sound of an intense battle, or the tinkling of breaking ice, "It was a long battle, but the Hero was victorious, together, he and his friends returned to the Village of Heroes to get ready for the next time they had to save another Princess..."

Naruto smiled wryly as he realized that three of them had fallen asleep, Kusano cuddled up in between Akitsu and Kaho. Quietly, he took out a camera and snapped a picture before tip toeing out of the room. Once he had closed the door as silently as he could, the man straightened up, "I'll refrain from commenting on your habit of eavesdropping on conversations, instead, would you mind letting Kaho and Akitsu sleep here tonight? I feel bad waking them up right now."

"Don't worry about them..." The woman who had been eavesdropping on them was leaning on the wall outside her own room with a motherly smile on her lips; the times when Naruto showed how much he cared was few and far in between, "That was a good story."

"Really? I got the feeling that telling Kusano about how a wolf with a fetish for old women and little girls in red clothes was beheaded didn't really qualify as a bed time story so I simply made one up." The blonde shoved his hands into his pockets diffidently and cricked his neck, "By the way, I'm taking Kaho and Akitsu out of Tokyo for a while tomorrow."

******Unwavering Sky******

"For a self-professed immortal, you have a surprising amount of material possessions." Miya dryly commented as she watched Naruto load a few bags into an old but well cared for dark grey station wagon that he had somehow magicked in from somewhere.

"Uh…. It's sort of like how people collect stuff when they're bored as a hobby…" Naruto trailed off as he recalled the_ several _warehouses he had, "Let's just say I was bored. Very bored."

Emphasis on _several_.

Sighing, Miya quirked a wary eyebrow at him, "Are you sure it's safe? I'm worried about Kaho and Akitsu…."

The blonde found that last part hilarious. As far as he was concerned, given Kaho's molester tendencies; the landlady would have been more justified in being worried about **his** virtue instead of theirs.

"Oh not at all, cars are a fairly recent invention after all. People die in them ALL the time." Naruto deadpanned in reply.

Miya scrunched her nose at him distastefully, "I thought you didn't lie?"

"That habit of yours is getting really troublesome." Naruto commented casually with an approving nod, he hadn't actually noticed her eavesdropping that time which was really surprising. Her skills were getting better every day, "And I wasn't exactly lying. As far as I'm concerned, the last 200 years or so is pretty recent."

He glanced aside at the landlady, "You sure you don't wanna come? I mean, since we're friends and all."

She quirked an eyebrow at him with a small smile, "When did we start being friends and how soon can we stop?" She bowed apologetically, "But I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I just can't bear to leave everyone here at home."

"You just don't want to get into the car do you?" He said with a knowing grin.

"With you driving? No." she promptly shot back with another hesitant glance at the vehicle.

"I honestly doubt anyone else around here has a driver's license." Naruto countered with a sly smirk, "At least I'll get to spend some time with the two of them in peace. Better Minato suffer than me."

Miya sighed, "You know, I've been curious for a long time now. Why DO you keep trying to annoy me anyway?"

The blonde gave her a strange half smile, as if he had been expecting her to finally come out and bluntly say it, "Who said I was trying? I'm just being myself. Do you really hate my personality that much?"

"I….."

She really had no idea how to answer that simple yes or no question.

As Miya stood there with a confused look on her face, the blonde shrugged before taking a look at his watch, "At any rate, we'd better get going. See you in two days at most."'

As he made to leave, he felt something snag on the sleeve of his leather jacket.

The two of them froze until Miya released his sleeve with a rather surprised expression, "Take care."

Naruto hid a wry grin, "Will do."

The purple haired woman was left standing on the roadside as she watched the dark grey vehicle make its way down the narrow streets with a smooth rumble. Eventually, she heaved a sigh and re-entered the strangely desolate feeling inn.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play The Fray – How to Save a Life **

The blonde glanced at the rear view mirror only to sweat drop, "Do all Sekirei's dislike cars or something?"

"…Why?" Naruto noted that Akitsu's voice was higher than usual.

"Because Kaho is either a narcoleptic or she's already fainted."

The "Eep…." That came from a blue faced Kaho that was currently clinging to Akitsu like a leech was incredibly adorable as she wrenched her eyes open, "I-I'm just not used to it al-alright?"

The amused blonde shot another look at the rear view mirror, "If the two of you didn't want me to take a car, why didn't you say something earlier?"

The black haired Sekirei flushed lightly, "We didn't want to make more trouble for you Master."

"Well… getting to Narita on foot probably wouldn't have been** that** much trouble... I figured that going by car would've let the two of you enjoy the scenery without having to be alert for attacks or walking. Guess it backfired."

He heard Kaho swallowing nervously, "Why ARE we going to Narita instead of New Tokyo anyway?"

Naruto got the impression that the only reason the shrine maiden could still talk was so that she could her mind off the scenery flashing by, "I can fool people, but machines are a little harder. Besides, the two of you don't have passports right? Matsu told me that all Sekirei don't have any personal identification cards since they're vouched for by the M.B.I but that only applies to New Tokyo. In one stroke, they restricted all of you to Tokyo and made it harder for you to integrate into normal society outside their area of influence." the blonde shrugged carelessly, "That means that going through the airport there will only make things needlessly complicated. At least they have no actual influence outside of Tokyo."

"That still doesn't explain why Narita. Going by what you just said, wouldn't going there be even more troublesome?" she pointed out curiously.

Naruto dug in the driver seat's storage pocket, "They won't be looking for Sekireis specifically there so we only have to deal with your identification documents, that's why I pulled in a few _favours_ and had identification and passports made for all of you..." He passed the large folder to a more composed Akitsu, "Try not to lose those, having them made in less than a week wasn't cheap."

The largely apathetic Akitsu gingerly poked around the contents of the folder and extracted two smaller folders, each with their names printed on the front. Biting her lip, she passed the other folder to a rather pale Kaho before pulling out an authentic looking small red book from her own folder.

Flipping it open, she gently touched a picture of herself, feeling strangely overwhelmed and rather hot all of a sudden.

Beside her, Kaho was in a similar position and already tearing up as she ran her finger along the name printed on her own passport, proof of her identity as a person rather than a Sekirei dependent on M.B.I's good graces.

A tear of happiness and pride leaked out. She was now legitimately Namikaze Kaho, 22 years old and married.

The raven haired girl looked over at Akitsu to see the normally distant ice user's cheeks were slowly turning a dusky red as her eyes watered. The name printed on her own passport was Uzumaki Akitsu. 24 years old, also married.

"Thank you…. Naruto-sama. Thank you for giving us your family name… " She breathed out softly. To him, it was probably nothing but a tiny gesture of faith, but the thought of Naruto-sama giving her his own surname made her feel extremely warm inside for some reason she did not understand.

"You're welcome." Naruto replied simply even as he kept his eyes on the road.

Feeling that a simple word of thanks was not enough to convey the warmth in her chest, Akitsu nodded with resolve and delivered her next sentence with her usual deadpan sincerity, "Matsu-san said that in cases like this, I should offer you all my holes. How do I do that?"

The blonde nearly crashed the car.

"**EEEEK!"**

"…. Mental note to self, give that cockroach a few more lessons when we get back." Naruto panted under his breath. Behind him, Akitsu and Kaho were clinging to each other and trembling, "Rather… why are all the perverts gravitating to someone as innocent and pure as Akitsu?"

Despite the cramped space and the near accident, he felt his two Sekireis winding their arms around his neck in a warm embrace. The anything but cool Akitsu was on his left while Kaho was wiping her tears on his jacket's right shoulder. It was probably a little more than uncomfortable for the two of them, but they stayed attached to him out of sheer determination in a comfortable silence.

Naruto spoke softly with a gentle nudge, "Not that I don't like this but we're about to reach the checkpoint. Once we pass it, we'll be out of New Tokyo for real."

A chilly apprehension ran down their back as they tensely resettled into their seats. The second phase hadn't actually started yet but both of them rather doubted that the Director would really let them leave that easily, "Is there anything we should keep in mind?"

"Don't worry about it; just keep your identification ready in case they do ask, which I doubt they will." Naruto paused for a beat and continued in a matter of fact tone, "Though if something DOES happen, just get ready to jump into the river."

They couldn't help but chuckle at the blonde's joke as the mood lightened.

As the car gradually slowed down, the blonde wound down the window for the men in official looking suits to peer in, "Names?" the brown haired man asked curtly.

The blonde man grinned in an unassuming manner, "G'day sir, Namikaze Kiria, Namikaze Kaho and Uzumaki Akitsu going out for a short holiday ya."

Kaho raised an eyebrow at the blonde's noticeably thick Kansai accent even as the suited man ignored the banter and requested for their identification in a curt and to the point tone, "Can I see your license?"

"Gladly." Her Ashikabi replied cheerfully as he handed the man his driving license along with Akitsu's and Kaho's new passports.

She wasn't very sure, but it might have been Osakan. "Everything seems to check out…" The man's eyes flicked from passport to passengers and hummed as he ran through a list of names and pictures on a tablet PC before they suddenly widened, "Hmm? Wa-wait, backup!"

The two Sekireis in the dark grey station wagon tensed as four other men, all of them in dark green combat fatigues ran up to their station wagon, preparing for the inevitable fight.

Naruto simply smiled in a pitying manner, "It would have been so much easier if you were lazy." Though they couldn't see it properly owing to their seats in the back, both his Sekirei noticed their Ashikabi's right hand making some sort of curious waving motions as he spoke softly, "These are not the people you're looking for, policeman-han. Just simple travellers on our way to see a doctor."

All five of them froze and stopped moving; eyes curiously blank while the man in the suit handed their documents back with an apologetic bow, "No, they are not, it was just a mistake. Move along, Namikaze-san."

"Osu, g'day to ya'll." The blonde man rolled the window down with a careless whistle and restarted the car.

"Accent?" the blonde looked up at the rear view mirror at Akitsu's one word question.

The blonde grinned widely, "Look at Kaho's passport, the Namikaze's are from Kyoto."

He heard a stifled gasp from his black haired Sekirei for some reason.

"…..Namikaze Kiria? Master's name isn't Uzumaki Naruto?" Akitsu inquired with a cute tilt of her head.

"Oh it is." Naruto replied nonchalantly, "But Namikaze Kiria is my name as well."

She scrunched up her nose as if thinking very hard, "So Master's name is Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto Kiria?"

The scarred man laughed loudly, "Well, not really. Let's just say that Namikaze Kiria and Uzumaki Naruto are legally two different people and leave it at that." He smirked, "It is better not to dwell on the small details. Life is a lot easier that way." The smile disappeared and he whispered to himself, "Sometimes it's the only way."

Just then something landed on the hood with a loud crash before they could officially leave New Tokyo, causing the station wagon to spin out of control.

"Is everyone alright?" Naruto asked worriedly when the car finally came to a stop.

"We're fine... just shaken." Kaho muttered before pointing at the object that had landed on the bonnet, "But I'm not sure for how long."

"My, my, trying to escape ShinTokyo? I'm not sure how you managed to get by the guards but I'm afraid that's not possible."

Naruto's head turned so fast they heard the crick of his spine, "My CAR!"

The moment the blonde left the vehicle, Haihane's pupils dilated, but before she could even move a muscle, the blonde basically clotheslined her in his hurry to get a look at his car. Once he had gingerly poked at the dented steel a few times, Naruto whirled around indignantly and grabbed a dazed Haihane to the car by the scruff of her neck before knocking her head on the hood of his car, ironically denting it even more, "Do you see –**bang**- what you DID?! Do –**bang**- you know how HARD it is to maintain a precious classic like –**bang**- this is?! They don't –**bang**- even MAKE parts for this model anymore!"

Haihane who had been knocked out of her feral state into unconsciousness before abruptly being roughly awakened again by Naruto's manhandling, looked more stunned, confused and surprised rather than scared. Wondering if she had accidently fallen asleep on guard duty or something, she peered up at the angry blonde with her mouth agape and shook her head, "Uh... no?" she muttered in a way that suggested that she didn't see what the fuss was about, "It's _just _a car. MBI can easily compensate yo-"

Naruto promptly drop kicked her off the bridge.

"**Kyaaaaaaa-kersplash-!"**

In the car, Akitsu elbowed Kaho, "….Jealous."

"Of the car? Yeah me too." Kaho deadpanned.

******Unwavering Sky******

A red headed woman looked up from her knitting as she heard someone knocking on the door. With a grunt, she got up from the rocking chair and petted the two small children playing by her legs, "Makoto, Tezuka, stay here while I answer the door alright?"

Her two young sons looked up with wide eyes, "Hai! Okaa-san."

"I wonder who it could be…" the young mother muttered to herself as she walked through the dark hallways. Her question was answered when she opened the door to reveal rather haggard looking blonde with two women carrying several large bags in tow."

"Naruto! Jack never told me you were coming over!" The woman said with a gasp as she enveloped the much taller blonde with an affectionate hug.

"Pinoko, it's good to see you too." The scarred man grinned as he returned the hug, "He just forgot to mention it I guess. You know he gets when he has new toys to play with."

"Trust me, I know." Pinoko let the blonde go and peered at the two women who were nearly glowing with happiness and vitality, "My, you've never brought women home before. Should I prepare something special?" She asked teasingly.

Naruto face palmed and rubbed his temples, "Something normal will be good. These two have been running me and my wallet into the ground."

The woman who had her haired tied up into one long elegant pony tail simply smiled smugly, "Good to know you've found someone, or at least two someones, that can match your own energy. Come in, come in."

As the three of them trouped in, Pinoko linked her arms around the two women, "Why don't you go find Jack. It looks like the three of us have a lot to talk about."

As the grumbling blonde headed deeper into the house, Pinoko smiled and pulled the women to where she had left Makoto and Tezuka, "Come, relax for a while. Your trip must have been tiring."

"It was, but we enjoyed it a lot." The raven haired beauty bowed politely after gently placing her bags down, "I'm sorry for being so rude, I'm Namikaze Kaho." She gestured at the pale haired woman who looked like she was half asleep, "This is Uzumaki Akitsu. Forgive her, but she's not much of a talker."

Akitsu bowed lightly, "….Nice to meet you."

"Ohohoho, you two are so polite, and beautiful too. Naruto's pretty lucky. I'm Hazama Pinoko. Sit down, sit down." She began bustling around the room pouring tea for the two women as her curious sons wondered over to the newcomers with wide curious eyes.

"Uhm… excuse me, but how do you know Naruto-sama?" Kaho began combing her fingers through Makoto's hair, "Even now, we still don't know much about him…."

The petite red headed woman placed the tea cups down gently and took her seat, "Maa…. I wouldn't say that I know all that much either. All I know is that he's a major contributor to my husband's work. Even then, Jack doesn't talk much about him you see, but Naruto comes and goes every few years, even if it's just for a chat." She shrugged, "The children love him, so he can't be all that bad."

"I've noticed that quality." Kaho murmured softly to Pinoko's amusement.

"Was that what drew you to him?" she asked teasingly, causing the two of them to flush a little.

"Eeeh? Naru-jii chan is here?!" the younger of the two boys on Akitsu's lap piped up.

"That's right, he should be with papa. Why don't you go find him?"

"Makoto-nii chan, let's go! I bet he bought more toys for us!"

As the two little children pattered off, Pinoko sighed happily, "He's always seemed a little detached from everything and his tongue is a little sharper than necessary, so I was worried if he would ever stop being a bachelor. It didn't help that he was always a little too good with the women, especially the fast ones. Looks like I don't have to worry about him settling down with a good woman anymore."

"… Known him long?" Akitsu asked in a taciturn matter as she and Kaho shared a look. It seemed like the woman before them was not aware of Naruto's unique skill set.

Pinoko played with her pony tail as she calculated the years that they had known Naruto, "About 20 years, give or take a few but I know that Jack has been friends with him for much longer, even if he would never admit it, Jack loves him like a brother." Pinoko grinned slyly, "Want me to tell you about the time that the two of them got drunk and arrested for streaking through town on a dare?"

Kaho and Akitsu leaned forward with sparkling eyes, much to Pinoko's amusement.

******Unwavering Sky******

Coughing a little as he tried to clear the heavy iron tang of toxic chemicals in the air with a push of wind, Naruto stomped through the house, grumbling the entire time, "Oi, bastard. Where are you hiding now?"

"Naruto?" a voice answered him incredulously from somewhere inside the maze, "I thought you were due next week?"

"It IS next week, dumbass." Naruto countered as he gingerly stepped over a large, "You even sent me a message saying you were done."

A man stepped out from behind a bookcase, dust covering his entire lab coat and hair, looking vaguely insulted, "Who the hell do you think I am? I was done the day after you got me the samples…." He pursed his lips sheepishly, "I was just... a little caught up with everything else."

Sighing, Naruto carefully leaned against a rickety looking shelf, "And? You didn't specify exactly how you fixed it, just that you did."

The black and white haired man shot him a look, "First, do you know your ancestors?"

Naruto snorted, "Yeah right."

Jack shrugged, "I figured that would be the case, was just curious anyway." Walking over to a table with papers piled on it, he dug through the mess before retrieving a set of folders, "Your problem was relatively easy enough to fix, assuming the basic delta algorithm….."

"Can I get a summary please?"Naruto pleaded with a pained expression, "If you start on the technical terms, I'm not leaving this place until next year."

The black and white haired man rolled his eyes, "I was already going to explain it in simple terms you nitwit. Basically a trace of DNA in liquid form, combined with an infusion of life energy would be enough to activate the locking sequence that imprints you to them. Going by the notes you _salvaged _for me, the easiest of course would be saliva with the energy infused through a kiss, the most basic version of a ritual. We can compare that to a…. eh…. AAA battery-"

"Nau-jii chan, Nau-jii chan!" their conversations was interrupted by the cries of two young boys as they dashed through the maze with surprising skill and leapt into the smiling blonde's arms without hesitation.

"Oooh! Makoto-chan, Tezuka-chan," Naruto grunted a little as he hefted both giggling boys, "The two of you are pretty big now huh? I can barely carry you anymore."

"Ehhh…!" the younger one pouted while the older one jabbed his chest with a small fist, "Where's our present, Naru-jii chan?"

"Hmmm…." Naruto made a mock thoughtful face, "Let's make a bet alright? I'll give it to you if you can be quiet alright? I have to talk to your papa for a while first. If you make a noise, it means no more presents for the two of you."

The two of them instantly slapped their palms of their lips and mimed instead, causing the blonde to chuckle before giving Jack a pointed look to continue.

The middle aged doctor, who had been grinning a little, coughed politely, "As I was saying, going one rank higher, ingesting your tears would have been equivalent to say… an AA battery. By the same standards ingesting your blood, followed by a kiss would have been comparable to something like a car battery." He gave the grinning blonde who was carrying two innocent little boys a pointed look, "You make a crack about nuclear fusion rods in front of them and I'll de-man you here and now."

"I haven't even said anything yet." Naruto protested indignantly with a wince. Regenerating _those _parts wasn't something he liked to do on a regular basis.

"Yet." He countered dryly, "At any rate, the average subject requires only the equivalent of an AAA battery. She basically just needs a little something more powerful."

"So that's it?" Naruto questioned in an attempt to steer the conversation back to somewhere that did not include his impending unmanning, "I just have to give her some blood?"

Sighing, the bizzare looking man sat down in a comfy rocking chair and gazed at the blonde who was watching him intensely. Folding his hands together, Jack spoke, "How much do you like that girl, Naruto?"

"Enough….?" Naruto hedged.

"Make it more than enough." The bi-coloured doctor retorted wryly in his typical American slang, "I've seen the psyche reports on her. They can give yours a good run for your money on a good day, are you sure about this? Once you do this, she'll be stuck with you until she passes away unless something traumatizes her enough to let go willingly. I don't have to clarify what kind of trauma I'm talking about here, yes?"

"I'm aware." The blonde slowly replied, "But I want to do this for her…. You didn't see her when I found her. She was so…. I don't want ever want to see her eyes so lifeless again." Naruto murmured quietly.

Jack nodded and threw him a vial filled with clear liquid, "Give that to her. Tell her that it'll fix her up so that she can be winged again. You know what to do after that."

The confused blonde shook the vial of liquid in front of his eyes, "What is this?"

"Water and Sugar." The doctor replied bluntly, never feeling more disappointed in humanity's arrogance before this day, "Just don't tell her that. I don't know what those idiots were doing to her because it looked like she was only half way modified before another nut job took over and botched everything up with a monkey wrench. Right now, she's so mentally damaged because people have been telling her that she's impossible to wing for years just because** they** couldn't do it, bloody beansprouts, that she basically shut herself down, that's a placebo to help convince her."

Naruto clutched the vial like it contained life itself, "How much do I owe you?" he whispered quietly.

"Pay me after it works." Was the curt answer, "I won't accept payment for a half assed job."

"Thanks…." Naruto slapped on a smile and picked the two silent boys back up, "Looks like you two won the bet. Let's go get your presents eh?"

"It's alright, they can stay with me until you've done what you needed to do." Jack interrupted. Giving him a grateful glance, Naruto let the two boys scamper over to their father.

As the blonde left the room, Jack shook his head and muttered to himself, "Every time I see your uncle, I start feeling like I should get down on my knees and thank God that the two of you were born perfectly healthy."

"Hmmm? Why papa?" His youngest son asked with a cute tilt of the head.

"Just sayin'." He replied with a half-smile.

The middle aged doctor considered everybody in New Tokyo a lucky son of a bitch that the girl was so docile. If she had taken it into her head that the idiots that had stopped her from getting what she wanted the most needed to pay for it, she could have gone on a rampage and she almost certainly would have succeeded in offing them.

Them and everyone else in a 10 km radius before someone managed to put her down that is.

That the man that had come to him asking for a favour to help that girl was the same man that had given him a chance to have children, only made the whole deal that much sweeter.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Taylor Swift – Safe and Sound **

Naruto gently knocked on the door to the hall and stepped in to find the three women getting along swimmingly well if Akitsu's strange little giggles and Kaho's tinkling laugh was any indication.

"Telling them my darkest secrets are we?" Naruto asked with a soft smile.

Pinoko made a mock tragic expression, "If only I could. You're always so damned secretive. Sometimes I half expect you to be a government Black Ops agent or something."

"You're not entirely wrong. Governments have been known to ask for my help sometimes." The blonde replied with a suave smirk before sweat dropping, "Though, there's that one time where I accidentally blew up a president or two."

The red headed woman who was a little more petite than most snorted, "Oh, go on you big teddy bear." She glanced at the vial in his fist, "I'd say you three have something secretive to do, so I'll leave you to it."

Pinoko gave the two women a sly wink as she locked the door behind her, ensuring no one could escape without her permission.

Groaning with some relief, the blonde contentedly took a seat between his two Sekirei, enjoying their warmth as they leaned into him.

Kaho drew a deep breath of his scent and sighed in equal contentment, "Pinoko-san was telling us about some of your old _romances_."

The blonde snorted, "I should have figured she would have told you about those, she keeps thinking that I'm some sort of fairy tale tragic figure that just needs true love."

"….Aren't you?" Akitsu mumbled, feeling strangely put out.

"It depends. Are you willing to drink this?" Naruto smiled and opened his fist to show the snow user the vial.

Akitsu cocked her head, "…. What is it?"

Gently depositing the small vial in her hands, he clasped her smaller fists together, "Something that will let you get winged again."

Her eyes widened to the max as she stared at her closed fist, "….. Lying?" she asked in a trembling voice.

Leaning back, he gently held both their hands, "I never lie."

"I trust you, Naruto-sama." Those three words reassured like nothing else. Gently grasping the vial with her trembling hands as best as possible, she lifted it up to her lips and drank the clear liquid without any hesitation whatsoever.

She felt the cool liquid run down her throat, but felt no difference otherwise. Turning to the blonde, she first peered at Kaho for permission.

The raven haired woman's onyx pupils were watering as she nodded lightly, "Go on," Her sister in all but name mouthed silently.

Biting her lips, she leaned forward, eyes half closed, heart throbbing with all the hope she could muster. She felt the blonde's arms wrap around her waist and pull her into a full bodied hug first. Relishing in the contact, she felt something brush against her lips, strangely tasting like iron.

Saying that she couldn't describe it was the best way she could describe it. An indescribable heat flashed through her body, mind and soul before a softer aftertaste suffused her entire, slowly flowing from her lips until they reached her back where she could feel something pulsing, trying to get out. Her heart skipped a few beats as the thought of failure occurred to her. As if sensing her hesitation, the soft lips on her own pressed on her harder and both the pain and the heat increased two fold for a split second before she was granted sweet relief.

Behind her nape, crystalline wings of glowing ice sprouted in all their glory as Akitsu was finally granted the thing she desired most. No, her Naruto-sama was what she wanted most; her wings were simply a confirmation.

Nothing more.

Panting lightly, she finally pulled back with a half lidded expression from the pleasure before gasping.

Like a roller coaster, her emotions lashed from an all-time high to an all-time low as she realized that her Ashikabi had been flash frozen into an icicle. Her only consolation was that sometime during the kiss, she had inadvertently created a wall of ice around them, pushing Kaho away and keeping her safe.

"No! Naruto-sama!" She cried in anguish and scrabbled uselessly at the ice statue.

The sound of cracking ice filled the little enclosure. Bit by bit, the icicle slowly cracked before explosively melting off as the blonde erupted in white flames with a rather amused expression, "You called?"

Clutching the man's hands, she ran her hands up and down Naruto's face, showing more emotion than she ever had thus far, "Are you…. really alright?"

"Who do you think I am? I'm your Ashikabi." Naruto smirked with his customary confidence, "A little ice isn't going to stop me anytime soon."

Despite herself, Akitsu chuckled as relief flooded her slender body, tears running down her cheeks in little rivulets of nearly frozen tear tracks, "Thank.. God…." She lifted up her face with a truly radiant smile, "I'm yours, Naruto-sama. Now and Forever."

Leaning against his broad chest, she luxuriated in his strong heart beat for a moment before forcefully turning him around with a pointed look as she dissolved the wall of ice, "Kaho."

"Trying awfully fast to push me off on another girl aren't you?" The blonde teased her.

"Don't make me spank you." Akitsu teased back, feeling far more released and lighter than she ever had.

"Uzume needs more punishment." Naruto commented with a roll of his eyes and stepped towards the crying Kaho with a gentle look in his eyes.

"I thought you were go-gone…" Kaho sobbed.

Wrapping his arms around the shaking shrine maiden, Naruto kissed the top of her head, "Sorry, you're not getting rid of me that easily. Trust me, I took a nuclear bomb to the face and I'm still standing."

Kaho half sobbed and half laughed as she peered up at him through wet eye lashes, "….Do you love me?" She asked timidly.

"I can't say yes with complete honestly, but I'll try if you let me." Naruto replied just as softly.

"That's enough." Kaho leaned forwards on the tip of her toes.

A flash of immensely passionate heat flashed through her body like a heat wave the moment she tasted his blood on his lips, followed by a gentler more encompassing warmth that slowly accumulated on her back. There was some resistance before something pierced through non too gently, causing her to cry out a little both in pain and pleasure.

"Kaho? Kaho! Are you alright?" the raven haired woman saw her Ashikabi looking down at her in worry through blurry eyes.

"I-I'm fine…. I feel different. Strong. Too strong." Kaho muttered dazedly as the wings of pure light on her back flexed unconsciously, knocking down a few pieces of furniture. She leaned into him and breathed in deeply, managing one last sentence before going limp in Naruto's arms, "I'm…. yours, Master. Now and Forever."

"Kaho?! **Kaho!"**

******Unwavering Sky******

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in some sort white ward, that resembled the rooms in MBI, much to her terror.

What if everything had been a dream. She instantly began struggling to get out, when and ice cold hand clamped down on her arm, "….Kaho, relax. You're fine."

The black haired Sekirei instantly calmed down at the placid yet immovable voice that she recognized as Akitsu, "Your hands are damned cold." She muttered with a light chuckle, "Now I know why Master always makes you bath before we sleep."

Akitsu gave her a tiny smile, if Kaho could joke, then it meant that she was more or less fine.

"Where's Master?"

The ice user frowned a little, "…. Outside…. upset at himself for hurting you."

Kaho groaned as she pushed herself to get out of bed, "Let's go find him. It's not his fault I decided to fall in love with a walking power plant." She grunted painfully, her joints were aching as if they couldn't contain all the muscle and power in her.

Rather than stop her, Akitsu wrapped one arm around Kaho's waist and helped the limping Skeirei out onto the lawn where they found Naruto sitting under a tree, chewing on a blade of grass. Despite facing the crimson red sun set, they couldn't see his expression.

"Master?" Kaho called out weakly.

"Don't come near me…. I hurt you." The figure in the shadows replied sharply.

"Like hell I'm listening to an order like that." Kaho muttered under her breath, Akitsu's little smirk only served to embolden her. If her Master wanted an obedient little Sekirei, then he better start looking somewhere else.

Namely the couch.

Plonking herself beside the disgruntled blonde with Akitsu's help, she elbowed Naruto with a pout, "You're going to ignore me after you did me?"

One yellow eyebrow quirked nonchalantly, "You have this absolutely wonderful talent to twist your words around in such a way that instantly puts me in very easily misunderstood situations."

"I know," Kaho admitted, "Watching you get hit by Miya is funny. I don't even have to do anything."

Naruto sighed in resignation as he held their hands with a surprisingly strong grip, "Are you really alright?" He asked quietly.

"I'll live." She replied curtly, "I've been through worse."

"But this ISN'T worse." Naruto shook his head in frustration, "This was a simple kiss. Can you really refrain from kissing me again? Maybe I should just go away so I don't hurt the two of you, you saw how scared Akitsu looked. And it's going to happen every time as well!"

Just to prove how much assertiveness she had gained, Akitsu promptly froze their hands together.

"OI!"

Then she froze his butt to the ground.

"ACK! Cold, cold, cold!"

Kaho nodded approvingly, "Good job, Akitsu."

"… You're welcome."

"I'm feeling cold where it's not supposed to **be** cold." The blonde whimpered.

The raven haired woman raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "You got flash frozen without a complaint but a little ice makes you whimper and hurting me a little makes you all moody? What happened to 'Who the hell do you think I am?'" Kaho felt more than a little too grumpy and vicious at the moment, what with all the muscle aches and the embarassment of being knocked out by a simple kiss, to help soothe the blonde's ego.

Naruto winced at the tongue lashing he was getting from his sort of wife but argued anyway, "He realized that he can protect himself, but he can't protect the two of you from himself."

Kaho sighed and grabbed him by his face, causing him to yelp a little as she forced her lips to his. For the second time in a day, the burning heat enveloped her body, accompanied by a familiar stinging pain. Only this time, she was prepared for it. Forcing it down with her willpower, she released his lips, and huffed, large wings of pure light flicking in annoyance behind her, "Akitsu, your turn."

"… Gladly."

"What am I? Ice Cream? Mmphhmmff."

Akitsu licked her lips with a Cheshire smile, broad wings of ice flickering in the wind and causing hoar frost to freeze the ground around them, but this time she had gained enough control over the power boost to effectively ignore her first instinct to freeze everything around her.

"Get it through your thick skull. We're not going anywhere."

"….. I think I preferred it more when the two of you were a little more innocent and docile…" Naruto muttered in a vaguely sulky tone.

Akitsu's eyes widened to their max and they watered a little for maximum impact, "…. You don't want us anymore?"

"Ye gods…. When did she learn how to do THAT?"

Behind Naruto's back, Akitsu shot Kaho a thumbs-up.

Naruto sighed in resignation and leaned back on the rough bark as he stared into the sun set, "It's not that simple. You can control it now, but what about when we go further? I never thought it'd be a problem. You fainted with one kiss, what would the real thing do to both of you?"

**Play Yumi Shizukusa – Hana Kagari**

The two of them leaned in to the blonde, feelings of worry and doubt filled the clear and powerful connection they now shared with him, "That's not it is it, Master? You can feel our feelings for you now. You are scared by how much we truly, honestly, utterly love you." Kaho said softly, with her head on his bicep. In turn, you are scared by how much of those feelings you truly reciprocate."

"Oh, great. I now have two women that can now read my mind. Wonderful." Naruto said dryly.

Akitsu shook her head, "….Not read, just feel. Even if you might outlive us, you will accept us, if only because you are too tired to run and resist. You think that a fleeting comfort is better than none at all. Even if you are close to Pinoko-san and her family, we can feel the detachment, the tension as you prepare yourself for the inevitable."

Kaho continued, unable to hold back the tears in her eyes as a deep broken pain thrummed over their connection with him at their relentless hammering, "Year upon year, you love and love, not expecting anything in return. Your heart breaks and breaks and breaks with each passing until there's nothing left to break, yet you continue to go through the motions, loving because that's who you ARE. But you're so used to that stunted one sided love that you've forgotten how it feels to be loved in return. That's why you're scared now; scared of just how much you actually cared when I was hurt."

The pale haired beauty on his left ran one hand through his hair, "….We might die before you, we might be separated by the Sekirei Plan," Akitsu said with a sad acceptance, "But right now, let us show you that the phrase 'Now and Forever' is not a simple figure of speech. It is a promise. You grieved, but you never regretted, and now we do the same for you."

With Naruto limply sitting between them and their wings shining brightly in the falling darkness, Kaho began to hum a melody.

Like Musubi before them, once truly united with the man who had stepped forth as their Ashikabi, their powers instinctively gave them what they needed to soothe him. Words bubbled out of their lips, Akitsu's soft and measured contralto melded with Kaho's lilting soprano and they began to sing without even realizing it.

_The flames of my forgotten memories begin to burn again, like a firefly it makes you seem so precious to me. _

_How long will that faint nostalgic scent burn in my heart? _

_Flickering cheery blossom bonfire, please convey my longing._

_Though we chose different paths, my heart is calling for you. _

_Slowly now pale moonlight reflected through your gentle eyes._

_I trust all my love for you,_

_I wanna be strong for you; I know that we'll be together…_

_I'm not strong as you think; I've kept my hair long like it was that day._

_Because you said you liked it…._

_Hold me tight, don't ever let go, make me forget everything. _

_Flickering cherry blossom bonfire, our shadows overlap as they get closer, our ever flowing love will melt the snow._

_And then I'll get to finally meet you…_

_I'll make a wish on the cherry blossom bonfire…_

_That you won't leave me alone._

_That this warmth in my hand is not a dream. _

He who had never expected to be loved again, it had taken exactly that.

Beings explicitly made to love, to bring him back from the depths of a very deep sea.

For the first time in millennia, the tired blonde let go and cried on that hillside.

Tears of contentment.

*****Unwavering Sky******

**Author's Note**

**:) **


	9. Laughs and Bluffs

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 9**

**Laughs and Bluffs  
**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

Feels like a strangely long time since we updated hasn't it? At any rate, special double update for our birthday. Come to think of it, we did something like this last year didn't we? Heh. Don't expect anything for a long time because of how busy we've been. Two jobs on top of studying isn't easy. Go to class, go to work…. And come home to crash.

**Soundtrack List**

Takanashi Yasu – Kizuna

Immediate Music – Serenata

Asami Seto – Soshite Ima

Red – Let it Burn

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Takanashi Yasuharu – Kizuna **

"_Oi, will you stop jumping in the back of the car?" the driver of the grey station wagon complained as he tried to steer the car properly, "You're going to bust the springs." _

"_It's not like you wouldn't deserve it. Ever since that stupid, embarrassing, stunt you pulled in school, our reputations hit the drain." The thirteen year old boy muttered under his breath before grinning smugly, "That's why you get to take us to the beach instead of wasting your time lazing around the house!" _

"_I'm as happy as you are, but try to calm down will you? You're going to puke all over the place." A similarly annoyed Takehito grunted at his best friend, "Again, if I might add." _

_Seo sighed in a long suffering manner as he settled back into the seats, "Can you not be such a massive killjoy? I can get why Naruto-jii chan is like that since he's a doddery old man and all __**(Oi!)**__, but c'mon Takehito, live a little. " _

_The grey haired boy leaned back into his seat and smiled in resignation, "I get it, but let's just wait till we get there shall we?" He fidgeted a little to find a more comfortable spot on the old leather seats, "How long till we get there anyway?" _

_In the driver's seat, Naruto's lips quirked in a tiny smile. Despite how hard Takehito tried to act the cool part, he was just as excited, "Just a minute….. and we're there." The blonde replied coolly as the grey station wagon passed a curve and the beach was displayed in all its glory for the two excited boys in the back. _

_Seo smashed his face against the glass, practically vibrating as he got his first look at the sea, "Wooooh! Look at it!" He pointed at a corner of the beach excitedly where a number of colorful tents were grouped together around a Ferris wheel, "There's a fair of some sort as well!" _

"_Don't get too excited. The deal was for the beach and the beach alone. I don't want to stay at the beach any longer than I have to." Naruto retorted wryly, much to Seo's disappointed, "Eeeehh…"_

"_Yeah, that's nice and all," Takehito's bit out in a muffled voice, "But do you mind getting off me?" _

"_Oops, ahahah," The dark haired boy laughed sheepishly as she scrambled away from a decidedly squished looking grey haired boy, "Sorry about that." _

_Takehito sighed in exasperation and waved the apology off. Cocking his head, he silently stared at the expanse of glittering blue water laid out before him, "It's beautiful." _

"_Yeah. It's not bad." Naruto smiled from the driver's seat, "Look at it carefully and etch it into your memories. The ocean can be considered where everything starts and where everything ends. Every drop of water that falls from the heavens pools and gathers into rivers like humans gather experience, slowly growing and flowing through life. Like each river that flows into the ocean, the sum of that collective experience is what shapes them into the people they are and the people they can become." _

"_What the hell are you talking about jii-chan?" Seo grunted in annoyance while his brother remained silent with a thoughtful expression. _

_The blonde chuckled lowly as the car came to a stop in the parking lot, "Ah… maybe it's too early for you to understand after all." _

_As the three of them bundled out with a bunch of bags and a large umbrella Naruto called out dryly at the two younger boys who began dashing towards the sea without any regard, "Oi…. Slow down. At least change into your swimsuits first." _

_The two of them skidded to a halt and scrambled back towards the waiting man with adorable pouts as they took their swimsuits from him. Running towards the changing rooms, Takehito paused and turned around, "Tou-san, why aren't you changing too?!" _

"_Ahh….." the old man took a thumbs-up pose with no embarrassment whatsoever, "Because I'm already wearing it underneath!" _

"_Who's the one that's excited here?" Takehito muttered with a sweat drop._

_With one smooth move, he pulled off his shirt and shorts to reveal a bright orange, body length, skin tight swimsuit._

_Seo who had been impatiently kicking at the sand instantly went as grey as week old porridge,__** "WHY?! IT'S SO ORANGE, MY EYES! IT BURNS!" **_

"_**RUN DAMMIT, RUN! DON'T LOOK AT IT DIRECTLY!"**_

"_**TAKEHITO, HELP ME! I CAN FEEL THE ORANGE ETCHED ONTO TO MY RETINA!"**_

"_No…. go on ahead, save yourself…. I'm done for…" Takehito weakly slumped down onto the sand._

"_**HANG ONTO HIS LEGS, THAT'LL SLOW HIM DOWN WHILE I SAVE MYSELF!"**_

"_You're a real friend aren't you?" The grey haired boy muttered laconically. _

"_Honestly," A decidedly disgruntled and vaguely offended Naruto muttered as he plucked at the suit that covered every inch of his body save his hands, feet and face, "The two of you are overreacting. There's nothing wrong with orange at all." _

"_Do you not have any sense of shame at all?!" Takehito demanded with wild eyes. _

"_What's that? Does it taste good?" the man replied with a grin. _

_His adopted son actually began sobbing into the sand while Seo patted his back sympathetically, "It's alright. It's like the sun; it's not too bad if you don't look directly at him. Actually, let's just pretend that we don't know him." _

_The two of them glanced over to where the blonde was supposed to be setting up the umbrella and the beach towel._

_Takehito, sounding sufficiently mystified only scratched his head, "How on Earth does he get all those girls to flock around him when he's wearing that orange monstrosity? We've only been here for 10 minutes or so…. Why did it work for him and not me?" _

_His best friend fell to all fours beside Takehito, "Is that…. Our teacher?" the boy began crying tears of blood as he pounded the sand with his fists, __**"WHY HUMANITY? WHY?!"**_

_Brushing off the gaggle of star struck women, the blonde man made his way towards the young boys with a wry smile plastered to his face as he poked them with a toe, "What are you two doing down there? I don't think I need to remind you that daylight is burning do I?"_

_A despondent Seo snorted, "That's because you're a cheapskate. We had to blackmail you before you would agree to this as payment for screwing up our Culture Festival." _

"_Yeah, yeah. Just don't overdo it." Naruto grunted, "If either of you get sick because you played too much, I'm just going to chuck you in the toilet and leave it at that." _

_******A few hours later******_

"_Aaahh…. I'm so tired!" A grey haired boy collapsed into the sand beside his best friend, slightly behind them, sprawled out on the beach towel and snoozing lightly was the blonde and his orange swim suit that still sent shudders down his shoulder every time he looked in the man's general direction. _

_His best friend snorted derisively as he stared up at the darkening sky, "Already? Don't forget that we haven't even been to the fair yet." _

"_But Tou-san said that we can't go…" _

"_Oh yeah…" Seo's disappointment was almost palpable as he glanced over at the group of stalls whose business had really begun to pick up with the setting of the sun. The boy in the red trunks sighed bitterly as he got up, "C'mon. Let's pack everything up you lazy bum. The old man will grumble if we're not done before he wakes up." _

_Takaheito sighed as he joined his friend, "At least I'm better than Tou-san. He's already sleeping, even though all he did was splash a little water." _

"_Eh? Wait, didn't he only get tired after going for lunch with that girl…?" _

"_Don't think about it. Just don't, you'll better off." Takehito muttered sagely as he closed the large umbrella, feeling slightly reinvigorated as he looked around the slowly emptying beach. Most of the visitors were slowly making their way to the group of brightly lit tents. Dusting his hands on his trunks, the grey haired boy gave a satisfied huff, "All done. Let's wake the old man up before we leave."_

_Seo shot him a mischievous look, "Should we get some revenge?" _

_His friend hesitated for the briefest moment before grinning. _

_Giggling quietly, the two of them filled a pail with salt water and quietly tip toed over to the snoring man. _

"_Pour that on me, and the two of you can __**walk **__home." Just as they were about tip the pail over, the supposedly sleeping man grunted grouchily without even bothering to open his eyes. _

"_Ack!" _

_One blue eye glinting with amusement peeked out from behind his eyelid to glance at the two shocked boys who had accidentally emptied their pail all over themselves in their shock. Pulling himself upright with a heavy grunt, the man with greying streaks in his blonde hair casually threw a jacket and a towel to the two spluttering boys, "Dry yourselves and put those on. It's going to get cold." _

"_Eh?" _

"_You brats wanted to go to the festival didn't you?" the blonde commented dryly._

_The two boys shared a surprised look before letting out a joyful whoop each and charging at the tall blonde. Naruto simply let out a dry chuckle as the two boys clambered up onto his shoulder. With relative ease, the man hefted the packed bags and umbrella before making his way towards the colorful festival with two enthusiastic boys perched on his shoulders._

_This did absolutely nothing to reduce the amount of starry eyed females staring at the suave, scarred older man._

******Unwavering Sky******

"Will you stop that?" a beautiful raven haired woman grunted quietly as she batted the annoyance away from her face.

Akitsu who was sitting under a tree looked up at Kaho's distinctly annoyed tone, her brows lifting just enough to make it look questioning, "… What?"

"That floating thing bouncing around… it's distracting!" a grumpy Kaho gestured at the floating ball of snow which had taken to following Akitsu around everywhere, expressing what she presumed to be the snow woman's subconscious thoughts. Unlike herself who was unable to burn away the energy directly except through exercise, the little ball seemed to be Akitsu's outlet.

Unfortunately for the emotionally stunted Sekirei, it didn't _just _bleed out excess energy.

The expressionless woman glanced aside at the tiny ball. It pulsed a little before shaping itself into a miniature Kaho made of snow and began bouncing its head on the tree, "…. Can't help it."

One eyebrow slowly rose at the mini Kaho, "Is that your way of telling me to mind my own business?"

Akitsu shook her head slowly.

Mini Kaho nodded vigorously until its head fell off with a plop.

"Maaa…." Their Ashikabi gently soothed her as shuffled behind her to massage her back, causing the black haired woman under him to moan softly, "Let her be. I personally find it rather amusing, besides I don't think she can control it yet."

"You… find _everything… _amusing." Kaho retorted breathlessly.

"Not everything." Naruto leaned down to gently suck at Kaho's slender neck, prompting another soft moan from her, "Watch this." The blonde glanced at where Akitsu was watching the two of them with unblinking eyes, "Akitsu."

"…Hmm?" the small ball of snow transformed into a question mark.

"When I kiss you, where does it feel best?" the blonde questioned with a bland smile.

Akitsu's face refused to budge despite the heat suffusing her cheeks. The redness reached her neck when she realized that her little floating ball of snow was being decidedly indiscrete. Just before it could finish transforming into something vaguely clam shaped, the snow user grabbed the small ball and crushed it into powder.

"See? Amusing." The blonde commented with a grin.

Kaho smirked and shifted away from Naruto, "Akitsu, why don't you come here and try it? Naruto-sama's fingers feel _really _good."

At the black haired woman's sultry tone, the small ball of snow instantly reformed, changing into a sculpture of a tiny Akitsu hugging a tiny white Naruto while stripping him.

It was promptly destroyed by a blushing Akitsu before it could go anywhere near third base.

The normally expressionless ice user's lower lip wobbled a little, making it look like she was going to cry from embarrassment until she felt Kaho affectionately embracing her with a wide grin, "I'm sorry for teasing you. I'm just really sore and grumpy…" She poked a grinning Naruto with her toe, "You apologize too. You started it."

Chuckling lowly, Naruto pulled both of them onto his lap, "Alright, alright. I'm sorry." He gently pecked their cheeks. The little ball of snow slowly turned a light pink and bobbed around the three of them as if it was drunk.

"By the way, you were right. That floating ball _is _amusing." Kaho observed with a grin, causing Akitsu to poke her with a pout while Naruto chuckled heartily.

"It's pretty strange though. You said the two of you would've been fine after expending everything through a Norito didn't you? Why didn't it work?" Naruto said as he gently ran a soothing hand up and down their backs.

Kaho sighed dramatically, "That's what's _supposed _to happen. All it did was make me feellike a fat bloated dolphin instead of a fat bloated whale… Why did we have to get such a weirdo for an Ashikabi…"

"You sure it wasn't because you stuff your face at din- URK!" the blonde's words were cut off by Kaho planting her elbow into his gut.

"It's not polite to talk about a woman's eating habits." Kaho replied sweetly with just a hint of flushed cheeks. The blonde laughed softly before kissing the woman's neck, "Alright, alright. No more teasing the pregnant whal-ACK!"

"I can't tell if you're seriously just that stupid or if you're just a masochist." Kaho mumbled lowly, much to Naruto's amusement.

"Weeell… I might know of another way that can help both of you." The blonde they were sitting on commented with a small smile, "It'll even get rid of your soreness if I'm right." Naruto added to an interested Kaho.

Akitsu who had her face nestled in the crook of his neck looked up, "… How?"

"By playing a little game." Ignoring the questioning looks, Naruto gently helped them up before walking to a point a few yards away from them, "I'm going to walk from here, to that tree. All both of you have to do is touch me using whatever methods you can think off."

Kaho shielded her eyes against the late afternoon sun and squinted at the blonde man standing in the middle of the empty field, "Touch you? What do you mean?

"I mean just that. Do anything you want. Poke me, scratch me, freeze me, as long as I don't reach that tree before you can." He gestured to the tree they had been lazing under for the better part of the day. Well, he had been lazy, his two Sekirei were simply feeling somewhat lethargic, sort of like snakes that ate too much.

"…. I don't want to hurt Naruto-sama…" Akitsu quietly intoned as she pointed at a small young tree with a grimace. Instead, the entire area erupted in sparkling ice crystals as a crystalline spire pierced the skies. Akitsu frowned minutely; she had been intending to freeze only the tree, not 10 meters around said tree.

"And I don't have my naginata with me." Kaho pointed out with a flick of her long hair.

Naruto pursed his lips and reached behind him to slowly pull out a bladed staff before throwing it to a shocked Kaho, "Wa-wai-wait! How did you get this?! How did you even hide it? It's LONGER than you!"

"I stored it in a pocket dimension hidden in a seal on my back." Naruto deadpanned.

"If you didn't want to tell me, you didn't have to make up some weird story like that." Kaho mumbled despondently.

Naruto simply grinned knowingly, "Now you have no excuses, Kaho. Akitsu, you too. If you don't practice, you're never going to be able to control it." The blonde paused with one hand on his hip, "First one to touch me gets dessert?"

The pale haired woman worried at her lip, one hand rising hesitantly while her ball of snow seemed to pulse uncertainly, as if it couldn't decide what shape it wanted to take.

"Alright…. First person to touch me gets to sleep with me tonight." Naruto began with a smirk, "Loser sleeps in the hall-."

**Play Immediate Music - Serenata**

The blonde man narrowly avoided getting decapitated by an ice spear. The projectile whistled by his ear before hitting the ground behind him with all the force of a meteor, digging a trench that pierced at least half way through the entire valley with a massive boom.

"Wha- I said touch! TOUCH! You're supposed to practice precision, not '_let's pulverize him_'!" Naruto yelled out when he felt a shadow fall on him. Looking up, he paled as he realized his other Sekirei had taken advantage of his inattention to leap up into the sky.

There was a massive explosion of dust and air as the black haired woman landed blade first, crushing everything under her into pulp as the ground shattered. Brushing the dust cloud out of way with a swing of her naginata, Kaho glanced around the empty crater with a huff. Although she had known her Ashikabi to be a little more powerful than the average person, it still surprised her every time she saw it.

"I suppose that's one way of doing it." She heard someone half heartedly mutter to himself.

She whirled around to see the blonde man, dressed in simple jeans and shirt, standing on the edge of the crater directly behind her as he casually avoided multiple spears of ice with the smallest of movements. Peering down, the man waved at her before abruptly setting off at a slow pace towards the tree, whistling a jaunty, insulting little tune.

Carefully leaping out of the crater, Kaho made sure to stay out of Akitsu's range as the ground around and behind the whistling blonde was beginning to look like the crater of the moon if it had ice towers sprouting out of the ground.

Gently side stepping yet another massive ice tower that blasted out of the ground, Naruto carefully plucked one spear out of mid air and redirected it at Akitsu.

Her gentle brown eyes instantly widened as she threw up a huge wall of ice that shuddered and cracked when the spear crashed against it. The wall dropped again to reveal the blonde contending with Kaho, weathering her blows with the air of someone simply taking a walk in a strong wind.

"You won't be able to stop me from reaching that tree if the two of you operate independently you know." The scarred blonde commented before he easily swept Kaho's feet out from under her and flicked her forehead in mid air, sending her crashing to the ground a few meters away with a yelp.

The man scowled at his finger, "Just 3 meters? I'm getting a little out of practice."

Heaving a sigh at his words, the black haired woman stood up again and dusted off her red hakama with an annoyed expression. Naruto's lips quirked a little as he watched the two of them share a look before nodding. Surging forward, Akitsu flourished her hands; summoning a flock of floating ice spears that glinted dangerously in the setting sun while Kaho watched with a critical eye.

The pale haired woman seemed to grit her teeth and flicked her wrist. Almost immediately, the blonde had to weave his way through a barrage of ice spears when he realized Akitsu had used the spears as distraction for her to freeze the ground beneath him. The blonde lost all traction beneath his feet as he slipped a little and barely had time to roll away from one of the largest spears yet, only to find that Kaho had cut of his escape route by slashing the ground with her naginata, hard enough to create a miniature crevice.

The blonde smiled widely and flipped onto his hands, feeling the wind blow against yellow bangs as the naginata blade scythed past him to hit the ground with a resounding boom before abruptly spinning towards him. Maintaining his handstand, the blonde nimbly deflected the flurry of strikes with his legs alone until he felt the flow of air around him getting colder.

When Kaho suddenly leapt away again, blue eyes blinked as he realized that Kaho was simply acting as a diversion for Akitsu to fill the air around with enough ice needles to surround him in every direction.

The blonde smiled approvingly, fast, elegant and precise.

The ice woman snapped her fingers once and the needles began to rain on him like an unstoppable wall. Time seemed to stop for the blonde as his eyes rapidly flicked around the area, picking out the fastest route to safety.

To the two Sekirei, the blonde simply seemed like he was simply taking an evening stroll, the needles and spears _avoiding him _instead of the opposite. Narrowing her eyes, Akitsu carefully crafted a spear of ice and let it fly in an unerringly straight path when she finally understood what he was doing; by shifting his center of gravity in the smallest, most efficient way possible, the man simply made it seem as if her aim was completely off when in reality he was simply dodging them.

The smile on Akitsu's face became more pronounced as she summoned a wall of ice with a wave of her hands, barring the blonde's progress while Kaho darted at him from behind.

Behind the wall, Naruto knocked on the wall with a somewhat amused expression when he felt someone approaching him from behind. Leaping upwards, the blonde somersaulted over a surprised Kaho, landing directly behind her before putting on a spurt of speed. At the peak of his momentum, his elbow lashed out, planting itself on the wall of ice, directly beside the raven haired woman whose hair was blown away by the sheer force of a simple elbow strike as the wall itself crumbled into dust.

Snapping out of her fugue, Kaho shifted her stance and was about to hit the blonde whose face was barely inches away from her own, his cerulean eyes alight with a strange feral joy, gently laid one hand on hers, lowering the naginata, "That's enough."

"What do you mean? We haven't touched you yet." The black eyed woman countered, feeling strangely exhilarated.

'We're done. The two of you feel better don't you?" the whiskered blonde commented with a small smile.

Kaho blinked and realized that her movements felt significantly smoother compared to this morning as Akitsu let out a tiny sigh of relief when she noticed the annoying floating ball had dissipated into little snow crystals.

"Bu-but…."

"Don't worry, the two of you still won." He gestured at his trousers where its edges were slightly frosted over and at his sleeve where there was a tiny cut, "Both of you win."

"So…. Who gets to stay with you tonight?" the raven haired woman argued as the blonde man linked his arms through theirs, leading them back towards the doctor's house.

"Both of you." Naruto replied simply.

"…. No different." Akitsu pointed out in a monotone.

"Yeap. No different from usual." This time the blonde sounded slyly amused.

Kaho growled as she finally realized they had been tricked, "Then we didn't really win anything, did we?"

"Nope." Before his two companions could hit him, the blonde halted, "Oh wait, I forgot to fix the field. Not good, Jack'll chew me out again if I don't." The three of them looked behind them, prompting Kaho to sweat drop at the iced over and destroyed field filled with craters, with one lonely tree sitting right in the middle.

"… Sorry?" The reserved ice user apologized with a slight flush of embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it." Kneeling down, the blonde slammed one palm on the ground, sending a powerful quake radiating out from underneath him. Yelping as the two of them clung onto each other to regain their footing, the two slack jawed women watched the majestic towers of ice crack and slough off with an earth shaking roar before completely shattering with a loud tinkle while the craters were filled up in a somewhat explosive manner.

The blonde rubbed at his jaw line as he gazed on the little valley which was at least somewhat even again, "I'll have to do something about the plants before we leave." He muttered in a slightly absent minded tone.

Shrugging, the blonde got up and began to walk again when he realized his little flock wasn't following him. Turning around, he called out to them in a cheerful tone, "What's wrong you two? If you two don't hurry it up, we won't have time for dinner before we have to catch our flight!"

Kaho picked her jaw up again and rubbed her temple, "Why am I even surprised?" She asked the empty sky in a mournful tone.

Akitsu, patted her shoulder in a rather pitying manner before gracefully walking over to the waiting blonde, leaving Kaho to roll her eyes, "Wait up!"

As Naruto walked ahead of his two Sekireis, the blonde man frowned to himself. While he had been warned about the feedback from the connection he shared with Akitsu and Kaho, he hadn't actually expected it to throw his self-control off to this degree.

Unclenching the fist, Naruto shrugged with an expression best summed up with the term, 'Meh. I'll deal with it somehow.'

******Unwavering Sky******

The black and white haired man placed his removed his stethoscope and carefully placed it into its velvet bed as he took a seat across from the two women sitting on the same bed, "Physically, they're fine. All their vitals have returned to normal parameters. Then again, I haven't devised a way to measure or even detect their internal energies, so take that with a pinch of salt if you will."

"Osu," The blonde man reclining on a free bed waved at him lazily, "That's good enough."

The doctor peered at him over his glasses, "Should I remove _them_?"

"Nah, leave them in." The blonde replied as he pulled himself upright, "Worst comes to worse, I can remove them myself."

"How long has it been since you've performed a legitimate surgery anyway?" the man in the lab coat inquired snidely, "Besides, why would you wait?"

"Unlike you, I still have my license…. I just have to find it first." Naruto admitted before addressing his other question, "And I'm waiting for a better time. Doing something like that right now will only make it seem like I'm declaring open war on the nut job since they'll _know _that I know about their chips. Just blackmailing someone to fudge the tracking function for two days was hard enough that I really rather they not make an even bigger effort to interfere with my plans."

The bi-coloured man nodded slowly, "So you'll let them have information on your status and position, but in return, you can operate in their territory without any further fuss."

Naruto smiled vaguely, "That's one way to look at it."

The doctor's eyebrow slowly rose, "I'm curious but I rather not get a headache before dinner. Incidentally, should I start pitying them yet?"

"You overestimate me, ol buddy. I'm just a simple man with no job or prospects," Naruto spread his arms expansively with a self-depreciating smile, "What can a poor hermit like me possibly do to a mega corporation?"

"Right…. Now when was the last time I heard that?" The doctor commented acidly, "Oh right, shortly before you _accidentally_ caused another global Financial Crisis."

"Hey, I was only targeting one man. As far as I'm concerned, it's not my fault almost everyone else was being corrupt and greedy when I decided to leak some sensitive documents out." The blonde pointed out with a childish pout, "Besides, you didn't like him either."

"I didn't." Jack admitted, "But I still think bankrupting his business, seducing his mother, his wife and five daughters away from him then framing him for 9 parking tickets before gradually driving him insane just because he spat on you was a little excessive."

The man's eyebrow rose again at the dreamy, almost euphoric look on the scarred man's face, "The look on his face when he realized the beggar he spat on was the one that ripped everything away from him just before the last of his sanity slipped away, that expression as he cursed me with his last sane thoughts…." The deranged blonde licked his lips hungrily, "Just thinking about it sends shivers down my back even now."

The doctor pursed his lips and glanced at the two curious women with an amused glint in his eyes, "You two really sure you want to stay with this nut case?"

"We can't really ask for a refund." Kaho commented with a grin, "The warranty expired a long time ago."

Akitsu agreed with a dignified nod, "…. **Our** nut case."

"Should feel happy about her possessiveness, or sad that she didn't even hesitate to agree about me being a nut case?"

"Don't worry. Everybody that knows you also knows that you're so far gone that it's almost a national landmark by now." The old doctor retorted sarcastically before grinning faintly at the blonde's childish scowl as they headed to the dining room, "Let's just go for dinner, bullying you is too much fun and I don't want to miss dinner. Pinoko's been busy cooking the whole day so I'm sure it's something to look forward to."

"Akitsu, Kaho, don't stuff your fac-DWAH!"

Pinoko looked up from the table at the sound of Naruto's yelp as she set the last of dishes and smiled sweetly, "Awww…. The three of you look so sweet together…"

The blonde calmly removed Akitsu's fist from his cheek in response, "Your sickness is acting up again, Pi-chan."

"Oh hush you, just because I can see things that you can't doesn't mean I'm sick," She beckoned to them to join her and her children at the table, "Now come and sit down. I pulled out all the stops, got to feed all of you before you go off running around the world again."

Purposefully giving the puzzled blonde man a sly smirk, she pulled Akitsu and Kaho to sit beside her and promptly plunked two red haired children on their laps. Almost automatically, the two women seemed to instantly succumb to Makoto and Tezuka's big brown eyes and began stroking their hair with little croons, Akitsu included.

"You might want to start running." The doctor commented with a sly smile as the two men sat on the other side of the table.

Naruto gave his friend a nonplussed look, "Run? Why?"

"I'm under the impression that Pinoko is covertly trying to subvert your two friends into having babies as soon as possible now that you've gotten over your_ issues_ with them."

If at all possible, the blonde got even more confused if slightly apprehensive, "What _issues _are you talking about here?"

"I told her that you had Erectile Dysfunction." Jack replied blithely, completely unaware of the blonde simmering look of chagrin, "Which was why you were unable to settle down properly until you came to me for help and advice. She seems to have taken it upon herself to impress the importance of children into Akitsu-san and Kaho-san."

"I can guarantee right here, right now, that you're going to die a very painful death." Naruto instantly replied in a completely conversational tone.

"I'm sure I will." Jack calmly responded as he sipped some tea, "Incidentally, try not to do anything too drastic."

"Hai, hai, will the two of you stop antagonizing each other and eat already?" Pinoko interrupted them from her side of the table.

Giving each other one last dry glare, the two men began to dig in.

"I noticed that you didn't instantly deny the possibility of children," the other man commented quietly as he cut a potato into equal squares.

"Can we not talk about that?" Naruto grunted gruffly under his breath as he glanced at the rosy cheeked Pinoko, "Why in the world is she so happy anyway?"

"Remember how you kept going around with all those girls? And not once have you ever brought one back?" the doctor questioned dryly, "She seemed to think you were this tragic figure who was prevented from finding a true love by your inability to uh…. conceive. So when you brought those two here, seemingly looking for a cure, Pinoko was incredibly happy that you were finally out of options so to speak. If one or two rooms were to be destroyed in your, and I quote_; displays of_ _true love through Rough and Kinky Japanese Sex, _then so be it."

"I've never known embarrassment to be this painful." Naruto petulantly muttered to himself.

The man's dry technical tone as he described his wife's opinion regarding the blonde's sex life and supposed inability to perform arguably only made everything sound even worse by a thousand times,

"You've never let anyone in far enough for it to matter." Jack pointed out with a smile, "Is it so wrong to be a little vulnerable and less self-assured for once?" He smirked, "Though I would like to ask you refrain from any more _Rough and Kinky Japanese Sex_. Repairing the rooms can get rather expensive."

"Die, bitch."

"If it's any consolation, now that she thinks you had ED, she also thinks that the reason you kept flirting around was because you were overcompensating."

"**How the heck is that a consolation**!?"

******Unwavering Sky******

Takami's mouth hung open as she stared at the alert blaring on the screen, unaware that the cigarette in her mouth was slowly burning down.

"ACK! HOT HOT!" everyone who wasn't already staring at the large screens began staring at the white haired woman who was dancing around in an undignified manner, patting her burned lips and stomping on the offending cigarette butt, until she gave them an intimidating glare, "I don't remember hiring you to stare at me."

Every single one of them instantly returned to whatever they were doing, but owing to her current state of mind, she failed to notice that one of the men in a white lab coat discreetly left the laboratory with a quick wary glance to ensure that none of his colleagues had seen him leaving with a tightly held tablet.

Satisfied that that her subordinates were sufficiently cowed, the woman quickly transferred the file onto her tablet and stomped along the whitewashed hallways towards the elevator, lighting yet another cigarette on the way there.

Takami's heels impatiently tapped on the floor of the elevator even as he finger repeatedly jabbed uselessly at the penthouse button, fully aware that doing so would not make the elevator go any faster.

When the cramped metal box finally slowed to a stop with an ironic little ding, the woman immediately stormed through the slowly widening gap as soon as she could and burst through the large wooden doors at the end of a short hall that she knew was filled to the brim with invisible security lasers with a shout, "MINAKA!"

The white haire man whose hair looked like a porcupine looked up from his clipboard, sporting a strange, spaced out expression, as if he was unsure of whether to smile, cry or scowl.

The one eyed woman instantly slowed down warily, having never seen the man look so strange before, and coming from her, that was saying something, "I take it you've heard?"

"I have." The man smiled widely, "Although I for one would argue about the benefits of giving Number 7 more power versus an ability to disregard whatever rules I could set, it certainly is a very interesting development, especially with Number 87 along for the ride."

"It's not just that," Takami bit out through grinding teeth, "Whoever this man is, he winged them OUTSIDE of New Tokyo. How did this happen, Minaka? How did they leave without us realizing anything?"

Minaka waved off her demands easily, "Technically we _did _realize. Haihane came back drenched the other day and submitted a report about how she had tried to stop someone with two Sekireis leaving the city before that same _someone_ dropped her off the bridge. It was so impossible that I simply thought she was sleeping on the job and gave her the week off for such a creative excuse." Minaka admitted somewhat sheepishly, "It looks like we've been proven wrong."

"She probably slipped, you know how clumsy she is," Takami countered, instantly dismissing the possibility of someone being able to drop the Blue Sekirei of a bridge, "But it doesn't change the fact that someone left New Tokyo without us realizing. Even if Haihane failed, we didn't spend millions of dollars to have a chip implanted in each Sekirei for nothing! The damned things didn't even activate UNTIL HE WAS HALF WAY ACROSS THE WORLD!"

"I'm actually more interested in how he managed to wing Number 7." Minaka muttered, seemingly to himself as he ignored Takami's screeching, "He managed to do something I couldn't…."

"Why do I get the feeling you're sorer about that part rather than someone dancing through a billion dollar security net?"

Minaka ignored her rhetorical question with a whimsical wave, "No matter, he'll be coming back soon."

Takami narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, "There's no reason for him to come back and I know I didn't say anything about where's he's headed at the moment. You know something I don't, don't you?"

"Of course I do." The mad man smiled glibly, "That man is Asama Takehito's father."

The woman paled significantly, "You mean…?"

Minaka nodded slowly, "Takami, would you please call Karasuba for me? I think it's time for Uzumaki-san to stop avoiding me."

******Unwavering Sky******

"Izumi, I'm coming in." A well-dressed man politely knocked on the door to the penthouse apartment before entering, the sounds of his leather shoes clicking loudly in the silent, sparsely decorated abode, and heading straight for the bedroom.

"It's not like you to come in so early." The topless man in bed muttered as he glanced at the night sky peeking through the thick curtains that completely covered one entire wall. The two women in bed with him groaned tiredly, "Higa-san? What's going on?"

"Nothing to do with you. Go back to sleep." The man cut off his Sekirei shortly while Kakizaki clicked his tongue with some annoyance at the disturbance and readjusted his spectacles, "I just received some urgent news from Kochou. I thought you would find it interesting."

"Oh…? What might be so important that you have to wake me up at 3.a.m in the morning?" the man on the bed lazily drawled.

"A Sekirei was winged a about half an hour ago. Number 7 to be exact. She was winged shortly before Number 87, by the same person no less."

For a moment, the brown haired man on the bed struggled to think of why his secretary found this Sekirei to be important enough to wake him up so early in the morning when he stiffened, "If I recall correctly…. wasn't she trash?"

The dark haired man standing stiffly at the door nodded, "Unwingable and supposedly highly dangerous to be precise. Kochou was nearly catatonic with shock when she realized."

Higa sat up, suddenly feeling a lot more alert, "And who's the Ashikabi?"

Kakizaki coughed politely, feeling a little disappointed in his Sekirei, "That's the thing. Kochou was unable to find any data on him save his name, Uzumaki Naruto, 42 years old this year."

The man on the bed chuckled, "I guess that's the limit of rubbish. No matter, I assume she at least managed to find out where this Uzumaki-san lives?"

"That's the other thing….." Kakizaki drew a deep uncertain breath, "When she was winged, the trackers pegged her and Number 87 to be half way on the other side of the world. Our spies in MBI have no idea how he managed it without throwing up a fuss." Seeing the pensive look on his employer's face, the man in the suit continued, "If I may, hiring this person may be beneficial to our goals, if this man was able to evade MBI's security so easily, he may have some information we do not. If we want to take MBI down, this information may prove crucial. That he has a unique Sekirei like Number 7 and 87 on his side only makes it even more urgent that we get to him before Minaka does."

The naked man nodded, "Find out all you can first. No point in allowing a possible asset to waste away idly. At least I can put it to use. I wonder what that man is doing right now….."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Asami Seto – Soshite Ima**

"Miya, are you there?" A silver haired man called out as he headed towards the kitchen. Pulling open the paper screen, the words in his mouth died and he instantly paled, "Ack, **MIYA**!"

The landlady who was slowly stirring a large boiling pot with a ladle in one hand and a bottle in the other gave him a lazy, half lidded look as if she was trying to remember who he was, "….Homura? Is something wrong?"

A thoroughly disconcerted Homura gently steered the confused woman away from tonight's dinner, "Yeah… Seo is looking for you. I left him in the parlor. Why don't you… uh…. go talk to him and leave dinner to me?"

"Oh…. Alright." As his landlady left the kitchen with a rather halfhearted mutter and a tray of hot water for tea, Homura glanced at the bottle of _detergent_ that he had liberated from Miya three seconds before she _emptied_ it into the boiling pot.

Dipping one finger into the boiling pot, he licked the disturbingly red liquid gingerly and shuddered. Rolling up his sleeves, the man proceeded to empty the pot down the drain.

The silver haired man had a strange feeling that he had just managed to stop a massacre in time.

Out on the hall, a noticeably irritated Miya chewed on her lips as she made her way towards the patio where she found a timid Kusano hiding under the stairs, hugging her little puppet to her chest tightly like a shield, "What's wrong Ku-chan?"

The little blonde girl shook her head rapidly with a cute little, "Muu!" and jerked her head at the doors leading to the patio.

Miya smiled kindly and gestured for the girl to follow her, "Don't worry; I won't let him hurt you. Why don't you come with me?"

Nodding shyly, the small girl grabbed onto Miya's hakama and followed the purple haired lady.

Balancing the hot water on one hand, Miya pulled open the paper screen none too gently, "What do you want…. Seo? Is that you?"

A clean shaven man looked up at her with a bored expression. Gone was the rat nest hair and dirty white muscle shirt, gone was the tattered jeans and socks, resulting in a ruggedly handsome man dressed neatly in simple slacks and casual shirt, "Does this really surprise you that much?" Seo inquired snidely, feeling a little annoyed at how stunned the woman was.

The kettle of hot water slipped through Miya's slack fingers, splashing its contents right onto an unfortunate Seo.

"HOT HOT HOT! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" Seo jumped around the room patting at the hot liquid as little Kusano collapsed into helpless giggles at the man's indignant expression.

A flushed and embarrassed Miya simply huffed at him defensively as she wiped the spilt water with a rag, "Pity your personality hasn't changed at all."

"Can I at least change into something not soaked with hot water before you start sniping at me?" the dark haired man grumbled with a discontented expression.

Miya sighed in a long suffering manner, "Fine. Just stay here so that you don't drip all over the place."

"You know…. You could at least be a little more polite considering this is your fault."

The woman simply ignored him as she left with Kusano to find something suitable

A few minutes later, Miya and Kusano returned with a brown kimono that he instantly knew belonged to Naruto, "Sorry, I couldn't find anything more casual but Naruto's clothes are the largest ones in the house. You wouldn't fit into anything belonging to Minato-san or Takehito-san." The woman apologized briefly.

"I know." The man's dark eyes dimmed a little as he received the kimono, "You've never see him wearing something simple have you? He's always wearing something that covers as much skin as it can." Seo shrugged carelessly as he headed for the toilet to change, leaving Miya to ponder his words. Now that she thought about it, he was always wearing loose, voluminous kimonos or long sleeved shirts. Goofy orange boxers aside, even when she had accidentally caught him in the bathroom, she had not seen a single shred of skin.

When the man returned wearing the kimono, he retrieved some cups and tea leaves from the cupboard before taking a seat at the low table. With a long suffering sigh as he began mixing some tea with newly boiled water. One thin eyebrow delicately rose at the man's surprisingly cultured movements and formal posture. The way he gently shook the tea leaves into the clay kettle and poured hot water into it was slightly rusty and unsure, as if he thought he had forgotten it but something of past lessons remained, and it showed.

"Stop staring at me like that." Seo jabbed with irritation at the questioning look, his eyes darting around the house uneasily, "Just because I don't like to do this doesn't mean I can't, not after the old man drilled it into us before we even turned ten."

"He's not home you know. You can relax." Miya pointed out softly.

"Oh I **know **he's not home. He's never home on Sundays. Which is why I came today." Seo retorted, "It's just…." His eyes flicked around the house again, "…Never mind, forget it." Seo pushed one cup of green tea over Miya and a smaller one to a hesitant Kusano, "I just wanted to know why he's here again, without so much as a message or letter."

"You'll have to ask him yourself." The lavender haired woman replied as she lightly sipped from the cup, smiling slightly as Kusano took a gulp from her own cup and immediately spat the bitter brew out with a cute, disgruntled pout, "All I know is that he simply appeared on the doorstep and decided to stay for a while, but he did mention that he was only passing by before circumstances changed."

"By circumstance, you mean the little ice girl and the shrine maiden that latched onto him don't you?"

"You could say that." The woman smiled faintly before frowning, "And yet, with the exception of Musubi, Hibiki, Hikari and Akitsu, after being physically assaulted by every Sekirei he came across, he wasn't even fazed one bit."

"Strange…" the clean shaven man murmured as he mentally noted the little slip about being assaulted by Sekireis.

Placing her empty mug down on the low table gently, Miya tilted her head, "He's the walking embodiment of strange." She mumbled under her breath.

"No argument there. But I'm still surprised he didn't do anything permanent to the girls." The man explained, his nose scrunched up in thought, "As a general rule, as long as you're not doing something stupid to him or right in front of him, he'll leave you alone but the old man tends to get a little overenthusiastic with his attempts to punish and humiliate. I didn't really expect him to just let them go without a spank or ten."

"Maybe he's going insane? It certainly seems like it with how annoying he is always is." Miya countered with a halfhearted smile.

Seo made a harsh bark-like laugh that caused Kusano to scurry behind Miya again, "Really? Even if he appears to be completely unpredictable, it's more of a self-defense thing. If he really wasn't sure about you, the first thing he'd do is try to confuse you. Once that happens, someone who doesn'tknow how to react to that will generally revert to their base personalities, and become far easier to figure out."

But he wasn't… the man had said it himself that he was simply being himself rather than actively trying to annoy anybody.

Miya sighed as she set the thought aside, "I'm actually still trying to wrap my mind around it when I found out that you and Takehito-san were raised by him." She admitted grudgingly.

"Raised my foot, it's almost a miracle that we grew up relatively sane." Miya bit her lip in amusement as Seo wept into his cup of tea.

Composing himself a little, Seo sighed with a wry smile as a gentle breeze blew in from the garden, "I was angry that he wasn't there for us, but looking back, I can't deny that growing up with him had its good points. While we grew up, we watched the rest of the world meander around, lost, confused. Embroiled in their own conflict. Tortured by uncertainty, feeling worthless and unwanted, afraid of confessing, hiding their feelings for shame or embarrassment to the point where friendships were destroyed and relationships were ripped apart just because they were scared…."

The clean shaven man breathed deeply with a small smile, his eyes softening as he stared deeply into his cup, "We never had those problems…. No matter how insensitive, how distant he was, we knew we were wanted. We learned early on, if we had a goal, then we'd break through no matter what obstacles were in our way…. And we'd better make it there because if we didn't, Naruto-jii chan was almost guaranteed to get there first and** SCREW** it up beautifully for us….. Sure we got lost here and there, but even when he wasn't there, without us knowing, he'd already given us the tools we needed to be strong men who could stand on our own…."

Perhaps it was a child's intuition or innocence, but whatever it was, it made Kusano leave the safety of Miya's back and toddled her way to the formerly scary looking man and place one absolutely tiny hand on his cheek.

"Heh. Thanks brat." He glanced downwards at where her other hand was tightly holding on to the small kitten. Seo's eyes widened and he smiled briefly, "You're another one that Naruto-jii chan picked up huh? I used to have one of those too. That sort of makes you my little sister you know."

Kusano smiled widely.

"Have one too?" Miya questioned with a careful look at the stationary carving as a sinking feeling made itself known in her gut, "You mean that wooden statue?"

"Yeah. Both me and Takehito had one, mine was a statue of a tiger, Takehito's was a crane. Naruto-jii chan always said to keep it with us but we lost them a long time ago." Seo replied blandly as he played with the small girl and her cat which Miya noticed was being absolutely still, "Hmm… that reminds me…."

Miya quirked one eyebrow as the dark haired man stood up and began poking around the corners of the little patio that overlooked the gardens, tapping one knuckle on one of the wooden beams holding up the eaves with a concentrated expression, "Jii-chan used to play this game with us; he told us that he hid five statues around the Inn. Whoever found all five would get a present but we ever only found two. I wonder if they're still around." Seo muttered more to himself rather than Miya. Wedging his nail into an almost invisible indent in the wooden pillar, the clean shaven man popped out a fake covering, coughing as he waved away the dust to reveal a tiny alcove hidden in its depths, "Ah, there it is. This is the first one we found."

Inside the little cuboid shaped alcove sat a disturbingly life like carving of a palm sized beast that looked like a cross between a spiked tortoise and a snake, "This is the North one." Seo declared proudly, "The other one we found is in the kitchen, hidden behind a secret compartment in the southernmost wall. We assumed that there would be one in the East, West and the Centre of the house, but we never found them."

Miya gracefully strode over to the little alcove with narrowed eyes. When Seo had popped open the secret alcove there had been a large amount of dust, proving that no one had opened it in years and yet the inside of the alcove was strangely neat and clean.

The soft spoken lady gently ran one finger over the snarling snake's head. A shiver that confirmed her suspicions ran down her spine as she sensed a warm pulsing energy radiating from within the statue, the same energy that Kusano's little kitten and the Crane over her husband's grave had.

"How… did Takehito-san lose his statue?" she quietly asked the man standing beside her.

"Huh?" Seo scratched his head in confusion at the sudden tense hostility radiating from Miya, "It was just a little trinket. You couldn't really expect us to keep track of those little things or how we lost them could you?"

"I see…." Miya covered her eyes and sighed heavily, "I'm sorry but I'm not feeling very well. Would you…?"

"Uhh…. Yeah, sure." A rather bewildered Seo who had never seen the purple haired woman look so genuinely down trodden made his exit rather hastily as Miya none too gracefully fell into a seat again, pulling a nonplussed Kusano onto her lap and holding the small child like a comforter.

Snuggling into the embrace, Kusano could only silently watch the shaking lady with a quizzical stare until Mkya finally looked up with gleaming eyes.

"You can hear me can't you?" the landlady softly asked with a sharp gaze at the statue of the turtle.

"Ku?" Kusano asked with a cute tilt of the head, causing the older Sekirei to smile half-heartedly as she shook her head and patted Kusano reassuringly.

The spacious room was silent, eerily so, save for the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and Kusano's and her own breathing as the landlady expectantly waited for an answer, feeling more and more foolish with each passing second.

"What am I doing?" the lavender haired woman chuckled to herself, feeling extremely stupid as she did so. Seeing the small blonde girl still looking up at her with concern in her bright green eyes, Miya could only smile faintly, "Ku-chan. Why don't we go and finish hanging up the laundry?"

"Un!"

Smiling wistfully, Miya gave the empty room that was opened out into the garden one last glance and was about to leave the patio when she heard the door bell ringing. The little blonde girl tugged at Miya's hand before she ran off to answer the door with tinkling laughter, "Wait for me, Ku-chan." The purple haired woman called out before hurrying after the energetic little girl.

******Unwavering Sky******

The patio was quiet again save the quiet chirps of insects in summer, until a tiny sneeze reverberated around the walls, _"Damned humansss. Didn't even have the courtesssy to shut the door." _

The little wooden kitten that had been left behind stirred a little, before its small head lifted to stare at the speaker with glittering black eyes, _"Myaa?"_

"_What are you looking at brat? Come back when you learn how to talk. Ssshoo!"_

"_Stop your grumbling, Genbu." _Another dry voice chided, this one sounding significantly less gruff and much more feminine, _"The little one is barely a month old. We weren't much better at her age. Give her some time and she'll be a wonderful Guardian." _

The first voice snorted derisively but did not deny it as he shut himself back into his little alcove with a muffled puff of air.

******Unwavering Sky******

"Who is it, Ku-chan?" Miya called out as she headed for the door where she could hear the small girl squealing happily.

As soon as she turned the corner, the landlady came to an abrupt stop,

The severely drenched blonde man standing in the door way, holding out one hand to stop Kusano from climbing all over him while simultaneously carrying several large bags smiled thinly, "Tadaima, Miya."

The lavender haired woman nodded slowly as she took a cursory glance at the three of them to see if they were alright. Her violet eyes widened when she realized the pale woman's forehead was no longer marked. Although the raven haired woman and the reserved ice user looked distinctly sleepy and tired, they also glowed with a healthy inner glow. She frowned as she hurried the man and the four Sekireis into the house, "Why…. are you so wet?"

An amused Naruto motioned at a sheepish looking Musubi, setting down two large carry bags before ruffling her hair with one large palm, "I found a naughty girl playing with water in the yard, and she splashed me without realizing it. Where's Minato anyway?"

"Uuu…. Gomen, Naruto-sama….." Musubi cutely shuffled her feet while Miya smiled, "He's working but it's almost time for him to come home anyway."

"That's alright." Naruto smiled wickedly as he set the bags down with a sigh of relief, "But you still have to be punished for not paying attention to your surroundings. Minus one puff."

"…Minus… one puff?" Musubi gasped as she sent the older man a stricken look of utter betrayal.

Naruto's will held firm and he nodded resolutely, "Minus one puff. And you don't get to see your presents until after dinner."

Big brown eyes watered adorably, "Uguuu….. Musubi promises she won't do it again….."

"That's good Musubi, knowing that you're wrong and apologizing for it. You get your puff back."

"Hehehe…." Grinning widely, the brown haired girl nuzzled the large palm stroking her head.

Miya would have said something about the way Naruto was treating Musubi, but to be perfectly honest, she couldn't bring herself to argue, "Musubi, why don't you help Kaho and Akitsu to their rooms while Uzumaki-san takes a bath?" She glanced at the scarred man who had his dripping hair pulled back out of his eyes, "The bath is already warm, so please take your time."

As the older women made their way up the stairs, Naruto knelt down beside a sulking Kusano, carefully making sure not to drip all over the varnished wood floor while he affectionately rubbed her cheek, "Sorry for ignoring you, Ku-chan. Do you want to come bath me up? We can open up your presents afterwards."

"Un! Let's go!" Tugging on his fingers, the little child enthusiastically pulled the much larger blonde to the bathroom where a grinning Naruto helped her out of her little airy white dress. Naruto plopped the small girl on his knees before lowering themselves into the wide bath with a singularly relieved sigh of satisfaction.

The small girl on his lap turned around to pout at him, "Miya-nee says we're not supposed to go into the bath tub without washing up first."

Naruto chuckled lightly, "I'm a little lazy at the moment; let's keep this a secret between us alright?" The blonde man said as he offered her his pinkie.

Kusano's bright green eyes sparkled as she wrapped her tiny pinkie around his much larger one and they shook on it, "Muuu! Hi~mi~Tsu~ Ku got a secret~"

******Unwavering Sky******

"Did the two of you enjoy your vacation?" Miya asked warmly as she helped Musubi unroll two futons for a sleepy Kaho and Akitsu.

Akitsu who looked on the verge of falling asleep on her feet rubbed at her eyes cutely and nodded slowly, "It was…. Fun." She smiled distantly, "Naruto-sama winged both of us."

Musubi squealed happily as she abandoned the futons and dashed over to her elder sister, "Really? Can I see your marks?"

"Musubi," Miya reprimanded the excitable girl, "They're tired. Let's leave the questions for tomorrow alright?"

"We're not really that tired…. And it's still early in the evening…" The raven haired girl beside Akitsu protested despite her half lidded eyes struggling to stay open, "We just need to rest for a while. Naruto-sama took us a lot of beautiful places before we came back, that's all."

"Unn…. " Akitsu plopped forward without further ado and began snoring quietly into her pillow.

Chuckling lowly, Miya tucked Kaho into the futon beside Akitsu and gently ran one hand through her glossy long hair, "Feels different doesn't it? I don't just mean that the two of you have been winged," The purple haired woman spoke softly as she remembered the words her husband had said to her a long time ago; "You've gone out. You've seen many things on our trip. Like a simple drop of water, every drop gathers and flows into rivers, slowly getting bigger and bigger." There was a wise, lulling quality in her voice as she spoke, "Bit by bit, all your experience come together, widening your horizons, just like how each river flows into a large beautiful ocean. You are no longer stagnating in the simple pond called New Tokyo, no longer the two simple girls who have only one goal."

Seeing the girl had already fallen asleep with a peaceful smile, Miya steered an almost vibrating Musubi out of the room with an equally warm smile, "They're fine Musubi-chan, its just jetlag. You can play with them tomorrow. For now…" Miya hesitated momentarily but continued, "Why don't you go take a bath with Uzumaki-san and Ku-chan?"

As the two of them left the room, they did not notice that the two Sekireis had fallen asleep hand in hand.

"Eh! Can I really?" The brown eyed girl asked excitedly, "Minato-sama always says that we can't but is it really okay?"

"Just don't let Uzumaki-san touch you in inappropriate places." Miya added dryly.

"He won't! Naruto-sama is really nice!" Musubi reaffirmed with a carefree pump of her fists.

As the brown haired pattered down the stairs energetically, Miya sighed to herself with a halfhearted smile and followed her at a slightly slower pace.

Pulling open the paper screen, Miya glanced at the three shadows playing behind the frosted glass that led to the bathtub before calling out, "Uzumaki-san, Ku-chan, Musubi-chan, I'll leave a new change of clothes in the basket alright?"

"Arigato, Miya-nee~" She heard all three of them replying simultaneously in a sing song tone before laughing happily.

"Homura says that dinner is almost ready as well, so don't play too long." The largest shadow waved at her, acknowledging her words before it sat down behind the smaller ones and began to wash their hair for them.

Leaning against the wall, Miya hummed quietly to herself, "Your trip was pretty successful I take it."

"Pretty much. There were some hiccups, but overall, I guess they enjoyed it. That's what's important I suppose." The man behind the screen snorted in amusement, "It didn't really take too long yet they're already so worn out. How hard can climbing a couple of mountains be? I mean it was just a few jumps…"

"Heeeh…." The soft spoken landlady played with a strand of her hair, "I noticed that Akitsu was winged. How did you do it?"

"Let's just say I have some pretty good friends and leave it at that." The shadows seemed to switch places as a giggling Musubi and Kusano vied against each other in an attempt to wash the blonde's hair for him, "Kaho is happy but Akitsu changed the most."

The blonde sweat dropped, shortly after getting winged, the snow user had been continuously messing with her hair in order to proudly display her newly unmarked forehead and if he had not objected strenuously by pointing out that it would have severely traumatized the little red head nestled in her lap, Akitsu would have started wearing nothing but an apron in order to show off the new mark on the back of her nape as well.

"You didn't take advantage of their gratitude did you?" The nauseatingly polite, conversational tone from behind the sliding screen did absolutely nothing to hide the threat in her words.

"It depends. What are you going to do about it?" the blonde's voice was distinctly amused, almost like a boy anticipating a new toy.

Miya, unaware that the lavender strand of hair in her fingers had been frayed by her constant worrying, sighed and decided not to play his mind games, "Just…. Just don't overdo it. I rather not see them hurt."

The door screen opened to reveal the naked blonde standing there with a deadpan expression, Musubi stacked on his shoulder and Kusano stacked on _her _shoulders, "I'm inclined to take that as an insult to my integrity but I'll let it pass since you don't seem to know any better."

Miya slowly turned a vivid red and dashed out of the doors without another word.

"What's wrong with Miya-nee? Why didn't she come in and play with us?" the small blonde girl at the very top questioned with a cute, innocent expression.

"She has something unpleasant stuck up somewhere really uncomfortable. That's why she can't play with us." Naruto replied in a wise, sagely tone.

"Ohh…." Kusano drooped sadly, "Naruto-nii chan can't heal her?"

The blonde started turning a strange shade of blue, mostly from the effort of maintaining a straight face as he reached up to ruffle her hair affectionately, "Not unless she asks me first. You wouldn't want someone trying to take away your food unless you share it with them first right?"

The two oh so innocent little girls nodded frantically, "Besides, I suspect that pulling that unpleasant thing out of her might involve some rather complicated rituals, I'm not sure if I'm good enough." Gently, he lowered the two giggling girls, "Now hurry up and change or you'll get sick."

"Why don't _you _change?"

"Idiots don't catch colds, and I'm a really _big_ idiot." The blonde replied with puffed up cheeks and an exaggerated expression, prompting the two girls to giggle even louder as they scampered to the baskets containing their clothes.

Naruto laughed to himself quietly as the two girls ran out of the bathroom.

"Miyaaa-neee," The blonde heard Musubi call out loudly in a curious fashion, "Naruto-sama said you had something stuck up somewhere uncomfortable, can we see it?!"

The blonde's laughter instantly died.

"Oh he did, did he?" Chills began dancing the tango up and down his back at the sickeningly sweet tone.

Naruto took a swan dive out the nearest window.

******Unwavering Sky******

"Naruto! Where are you!?" A silver haired man called out as he entered a small empty clearing.

Some shrubs shook as a blonde head poked out warily, "Shhh… not so loud! Over here quick." Naruto hurriedly beckoned an exasperated Kagari over, "Did you bring it?"

The silver haired man sighed tiredly as he chucked a set of clothes to the blonde man who was hiding behind a tree. A few moments later, a sufficiently dressed Naruto stepped out wearing a simple jacket and a pair of jeans with a towel thrown over one shoulder, "Thanks for that. I forgot to grab my clothes when I uh…. left. But couldn't you have grabbed something orange?" the scarred man asked plaintively.

"Orange my foot. Just getting those was hard enough." Kagari grunted, "Miya wouldn't stop staring at me. I think she knew. Now she's going to take it out at me as soon as I go back."

"She's uh…. Still upset?" The blonde asked tentatively with a sheepish smile.

"Upset would be like saying the sea is wet," the fire user grunted as he leaned against a tree feeling disproportionately exhausted, "I have no idea what you did to rile her up so much but when I left, she was still **patrolling** the house with her Katana just in case you had the balls to show your face again. Thanks to you, I haven't eaten dinner either."

A growl echoed around the clearing at the mere mention of dinner, much to Naruto's embarrassment, "Ah…. I haven't eaten anything either. Wanna go grab something to eat?"

Kagari heaved another heavy sigh again, "Just something simple. I don't think I'm going to make it to work anyway."

As the two men began walking, Naruto froze with a helpless grin, "Aah… your treat? I forgot my wallet."

Kagari face palmed and stared accusingly up at the rising moon, "Do you have something against me?!"

"Ano…. Who are you talking to?"

"No one." The fire user muttered curtly, "Just move it. I'm still far from payday, so we're just going to get some bread."

An hour later, the blonde found himself leaping atop the sky line of New Toyko, chewing on a stale piece of bread with a rather disgruntled expression, "We couldn't even find a place to sit while we ate?"

Kagari grunted, "If we're going to just slack around doing nothing, we might as well patrol the area."

"But moving around while eating is bad for you." Naruto whined childishly.

"Just… stop talking and focus on making sure no one is getting attacked." His companion bit out, "I'm a little too annoyed to humor you at the moment."

It was silent for approximately 5 minutes and 39 seconds before the blonde opened his mouth again, "How far have you gotten?"

"Didn't you hear me?!" the host cursed under his breath as he struggled to restrain his temper, "I haven't gotten anywhere, I wish you were never here!"

"Never here huh?" the blonde man smiled though it failed to reach his eyes, "Would you really prefer that?"

"Look, I'm just not in the mood for chatter. Why must you be so annoying?" Kagari lashed out as his temper erupted, "I don't intend on playing with-Urk…."

The silver haired man's eyes shrunk down to pinpricks as he felt a familiar throbbing in his chest and he dropped to his knees. Naruto's eyes widened as he hurried to the fire user's side, "What's wrong?"

"Get… Get away from me!" Kagari choked out amidst heavy gasps as he scrabbled at his chest, trying desperately to get some air into his lungs as little specks of flame began to lick the air around him, "P-please, I do-don't want to hurt you!"

Just as he felt the last of his control slipping away along with his consciousness, the weakened Sekirei heard a strangely calm but forceful voice whispering in his ear.

"_You are not weak, Homura." _

Emboldened and somehow strengthened, the silver haired man screamed. With a brilliant flash, the flames flared around him one last time before being absorbed back into the panting man's body. Breathlessly, he patted his smoking clothes, "I... I'm fine?"

He heard a low chuckle, "That you are."

"Naruto!" The man whirled around to see the blonde lying on his back a few feet away with his face a little burnt and his clothes somewhat charred by the last blast.

"I'm alright." The blonde waved off his concern as he slowly got up, "I can't really say the same for my clothes though."

Homura began to laugh weakly, "You get blasted by my fire, and your worried about is your clothes?"

"Well… yea," The blonde retorted dryly as he tugged at the blackened pieces of cloth, "I really rather not walk around naked. At least they will hold for now."

Crumpling on to his back beside the blonde, Kagari whispered, "I'm sorry… it's just been a long day."

"Forget it." The blonde muttered in reply as both of them stared up at the dark sky.

Kagari grinned weakly as he held up a hand, five small tiny balls of white fire appeared on the tips of each finger.

"Not bad." The blonde beside him noted, "Can you switch them around yet?"

"Nope." The silver haired man replied, sounding almost happy for some reason, "With some practice maybe. For now, I can only switch one of them around without losing control. It's almost like trying to look in two directions at the same time; I focus on one, and the other four fizzle out or go out of control. Did you have that problem, Shisho?"

Naruto chuckled at the sudden change in the way the boy addressed him, "Yeah, quite a few times actually. That's generally when I lose a finger or two, and that's if I'm luc-."

A huge tower of water appeared out of nowhere, the gushing wave of water sent them rolling away from each other, coughing and spluttering, "What the hell?!"

"Tsukiumi!? What was that for?!" The drenched fire user complained loudly.

"I felt your distress." A new, distinctly haughty voice unfamiliar to Naruto sounded out from the building next to them.

"I had it under control!" Kagari's shouted in an undignified manner from the other side of the roof they were on, "That was completely unnecessary!"

The woman stood on the edge of the roof high above the two men, her hair furling out magnificently in the strong wind, "It's that the limit of your gratefulness? How boorish. I expected better from you, Homura."

The silver haired man sighed as he brushed his wet hair out of his eyes, full aware that nothing he could have said would have satisfied the prideful blonde woman who was staring down at him with her head held high.

Wait blonde?

"Naruto! You alright?" Kagari weakly stood up as he briefly scanned the roof top, before his eyes fell on to a dirty pile of something covered by wet clothes.

The wet pile moved a little before flashing him a peace sign, "Perfectly fine and dandy." His housemate retorted dryly, "This was all according to my plans of course. Lying on top of a windy, chilly roof top while I'm drenched to the bone that is."

"Hmm? Who is that you are speaking to, Homura?" Tsukiumi smiled viciously as her blue eyes searched the wet rooftop below her, "Is that your Ashikabi I hear?"

"I'm over here, white panties," Naruto waved at her cheerfully, "You know; if you're going to flash everybody, you might as well wear black lacy ones."

The moment she laid her eyes on the prone man lying on the other side of the roof, her pupils dilated in an almost feral manner.

The blonde man barely had time to roll out of the way of a blast of water that cratered the spot he had been lying on, "Getting attacked by a crazy woman is a _perfect _way to round off this _wonderful_ day." The sarcasm was almost dripping off his voice, "Yep. Totally according to plan."

Wearily, pulling himself to his feet, he noticed the blonde woman in the strange black and white dress hurtling towards him with a snarl etched on her pretty face. Contrary to the fire user's expectations and his mounting horror, instead of dodging or countering the feral blonde woman, Naruto allowed Tsukiumi to barrel into him like a train.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!"

"Experimenting." Naruto answered casually as the almost salivating woman held him down with both her hands with bared teeth as she straddled him, "I've actually been rather curious to see why Sekireis keep attacking me. Letting one succeed seemed like the fastest way."

"Can you **not** sound like you're taking a walk in the park?" Homura panted out as he limped over to where Tsukiumi was pinning his housemate to the ground.

"I'm actually getting rather turned on with the way she keeps growling and snapping at my neck." Naruto commented with a faint smile, "Would you rather hear what I sound like when I'm horny?"

"Oh gross, I didn't need to know about your preferences…." The fire user paused and stared at the blonde man incredulously, "Can you NOT molest her while she's trying to BITE your head off?!"

"Good point. I don't think Kaho and Akitsu would be rather pleased if I came back with a few extra hickeys that don't belong to them." Naruto muttered to himself absent mindedly as he threw Tsukiumi off him with ease.

"Oh god…."

"Are you alright?" The blonde asked conversationally as Tsukiumi sailed through the air before landing on her back and skidding to a stop, "You're turning rather pale."

The woman in the rather short skirt instantly righted herself and frantically hunted around the roof top for any trace of the missing blonde man, only to emit a soft sigh as said blonde man appeared behind her and silently chopped her neck. Carefully catching the woman before she could fall on her face, Naruto sent the grey faced Homura a victory sign, "Incidentally, she's EE-cup."

Kagari cried tears of shame as he turned his eyes to the heavens, "Why? Why did I get saddled with this idiot?!"

"God is rather busy at the moment. Please leave a message and we'll try to get back to you within the next century or so." Naruto commented teasingly as he plopped a cutely snoring down beside the fire Sekirei, "What should we do about her?" the blonde asked as he examined the unconscious woman to see if she was injured.

"We can just leave her here can't we? I don't think anyone is around to disturb her…." There was a hopeful glint in his eyes as the blonde stared at him dryly.

"You just don't want to be around when she wakes up, don't you?" The whiskered man chuckled, "Sorry, but I prefer we not leave defenseless women lying around, even if she does pack a punch."

"You have the weirdest sense of honor." Homura sighed and fell down on his butt tiredly, "You seem to have absolutely no problem molesting women in broad daylight, and yet you refused to leave girls lying around unconscious."

"Uzume told you about the pink haired one I suppose?" The blonde man inquired as he took a seat on Tsukiumi's other side.

"There was Kaho as well and now Tsukiumi." His housemate pointed out.

"So she's called Tsukiumi eh?" The blonde glanced at the sleeping woman, "Number Nine if I'm not wrong."

Kagari narrowed his eyes at the half asleep blonde man, "You know her?"

"I know _of _her."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning?" The blonde stared at him as if he was crazy, "Meaning, I did what any idiot with a half a brain, or at least a teaspoon's worth of common sense, would do when they find out that they've unwillingly roped into an illegal tournament. I found myself a list of all the contestants so I at least know I won't get stabbed in the back while I'm taking a piss in a park somewhere."

"Oh…." Kagari said somewhat lamely, "Wait, where did you find this _list_?!"

"I asked Minaka-san for it." The blonde smiled sweetly, "He was rather generous. Even offered me a cigar and a drink while we were chatting."

"You WHAT?!" Kagari desperately wanted to believe that the blonde was lying, but the man's tone and sparkling eyes said he wasn't.

"Oh look, she's waking up. Good luck~"

"Wait, what!? Huh?!" Poor, confused, naïve little Kagari was left staring at an empty space as the blonde high tailed it out of there before the stirring Tsukiumi could see him.

"Ho-Homura?" The waking woman muttered in a daze, "Wh-what happened? And why do my boobs hurt?"

Kagari pursed his lips, he couldn't exactly say that they had been squeezed could he?

"You fell down some stairs."

"Stairs…?" She shot up abruptly, "Wait. Where's that bastard?!"

"No-Now, that's not very nice." The fire Sekirei almost winced as he heard how much fake he sounded, "I saved you and you call me a bastard?"

"Not you!" Tsukiumi got up with gritted teeth as she grabbed hold of the debilitated Homura and shook him violently, "I remember someone attacking me! Someone with blonde hair!"

"Th-The only one here with blonde hair is you!" Kagari protested loudly as he wriggled out of her grasp.

"Re-really? You really saved me?"

The dripping man inadvertently averted his eyes, "Ye-Yeah."

Ocean blue eyes narrowed suspiciously and she glanced in the same direction Kagari was looking at, just in time to see a flash of yellow ducking behind a shed, "There you are! You perverted monkey! How **dare **you try to wing ME?!"

"Tsukiumi, wait!" disregarding the other man's cries, the blonde woman swiftly took off with a powerful leap as she chased the head full of yellow hair.

"Stop chasing me!"

"Then stop running, and let me punish you for your mistakes!" Tsukiumi demanded in her strangely archaic manner of speaking, a red haze of sheer anger, severely reducing her ability to reason and notice the fact that the supposed monkey she was chasing was somehow keeping ahead of her with superhuman feats of agility and strength.

Likewise, in any other circumstances, the blonde she was chasing would have found it amusing, reassuring or even familiar.

Safe to say, he wasn't feeling _anything _like that at the moment.

"Like hell! I don't even want to be anywhere **NEAR** you, and I sure as HELL didn't try and kiss you!" Naruto yelled back as he landed on one skyscraper and vaulted onto another. A few seconds later, a huffing Tsukiumi landed on the same spot and continued after the agile man, "Lies! I remember seeing your face before I fainted! You must have used some underhanded trick to defeat me until Homura stopped you!"

"I'll make you sorry for ever being born a perverted monkey!" A blast of high pressure water sliced the water tank he had just landed on, sending the blonde tumbling downwards with a curse until he attached himself to a wall and back flipped out of the way of another water blade.

"I didn't do anything. Just leave me ALONE! I already have my own Sekireis to take care off!"

"I just want you to die!

**Play Red – Let It Burn**

"This conversation is feeling VERY one sided." Naruto noted sourly as he hit the pavement running and ducked into an alley.

The blonde woman grinned triumphantly as her prey seemed to run into a dead end, "I've got you now."

Summoning as much water as she could, she blockaded the exit with a thick wall of water, "You've finally admitted that you're no match for me I see."

As she stepped through the dirty and empty alley, she got angrier and angrier at the noticeable lack of anybody to blast until the sound of something rustling in the alley reached her ears. Smiling widely, she let loose at a dumpster, blasting it apart with a high powered jet of water.

The smile remained plastered to her face as she strode towards the pile of shivering plastic bags and gingerly kicked them off with one toe. The smile instantly disappeared.

"I-I-I'm sorry Nee-san. Don't kill me." A young boy of barely 11 peered up at her through watery blue eyes, "I didn't mean to try and kiss you…." The boy stuttered innocently, "You were just so beautiful."

Tsukiumi hesitated as the blade of water bubbled uncertainly, "I feel no reaction to you…."

"Ca-can I go now?" the scared little boy asked hopefully.

The water blade sharpened again as her eyes narrowed at him, "Already so depraved at such a young age, no doubt because you were born a monkey. Maybe you'll be luckier if you were reborn as something else rather than a wretched monkey. Be happy that I am ending your life before you get to the chance to become even more depraved."

She swung the blade at the little boy and cut him in half.

The little blonde boy's opened wide in horror, before they crinkled up and the bisected boy began giggling uncontrollably, "You would kill a little boy for touching you huh?"

The boy disappeared into simple mist with a leer, "**Murderer."**

"What manner of trickery is this?!" Tsukiumi demanded as she whirled around, slashing her blade at the emptiness, "Come out you depraved monkey!"

"Monkey?" A doddering old man limped out of the darkness, "You would kill me without hesitation? An old, helpless, monkey like me?"

He was answered by a blade through the chest.

The old man grinned toothily, stretching the scars on his cheek, "You call us monkey because we try to touch you?"

"What else would you be?" Tsukiumi countered haughtily as the old man slowly melted off her blade.

The voice laughed at the note of uncertainty and fear hidden in her voice, "Then what would you be? How are you any better? We simply want to touch you because you were beautiful. We admired you." A twisted voice echoed in the alley, "But you** KILLED** us because of that. You're even **WORSE **than a monkey."

A blonde man, the one she had been chasing the entire time appeared at the end of the valley, "What does make you? A **murderous** ape? A pitiful gorilla?"

"I'm BETTER than you!" Tsukiumi screamed as she slashed at him, again and again without any noticeable difference as the blade simply passed through him, "I'm glad I'm a monkey. At least I haven't fallen to your level, **murderer**."

One by one, clones of the first man, the child and the old man appeared, filling up the valley with their chants of "**MURDERER**."

The blonde woman's pupils dilated in fear as she screamed, hacking away at the endless river of bodies, pushing through the grasping hands, as they spat on her. She burst out of the alley, screaming madly as she clutched at her chest, a disgusting empty emotion burning inside her.

The silence dragged on for a few moments until a blonde man cheerfully stepped out of the alley with a whistle and leapt up onto the roof of the building where a truly hacked off Kagari was waiting with a fierce expression.

"Was that truly necessary?"

Naruto scratched his head with a perplexed expression, "What did I do?"

"You opened your mouth." Homura acidly stated from beside him. "And every time you do, chances are, someone's worldview just broke into tiny little irreparable bits."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?"

"It's an observation." Kagari stated flatly.

"Fair enough," Naruto shrugged carelessly.

The silver haired man sighed in frustration as he tried to voice his doubts, all the while maintaining a certain distance from the blonde, "Sometimes, you seem like you actually, genuinely, **care** for people, yet you've made it no secret that you dislike dealing with humans in general. Then you try to and help us become better people, but at the same time you treat Tsukiumi like an experiment? What the f….."

"Like I said, she was simply an experiment." The blonde's tone was whimsical, "If she is weak, my words will turn her into a murdering psychopath at which point I will end her, and if she is strong, then she will take them to heart and improve herself. Either way is fine really."

"Ex-experiment?!" Kagari flapped his jaw at him for a few silent seconds before sighing tiredly, "I…. I just don't understand you."

"What is there to understand?" The blonde countered with an amused smile, "I'm fully aware that no one person can be fully shoehorned into a single category, everybody has their reasons, their own circumstances. I simply can't bring myself to care enough to _find _that reason because quite frankly I'm bored of digging out everybody's Daddy issues. So they get one chance to prove they aren't pathetic little flesh bags and if they fail…. Well… One missing person out of four billion doesn't really count for much. You say that you don't understand, but that's not quite right, is it, Homura?"

"Wha-"

Naruto cut him off easily, "I can see you thinking quite clearly, _'The way he broke Tsukiumi, what if he does it to someone else? What if he does it to me?'_"

The smile Naruto sent him was chillingly void of any humor.

Kagari took a step or two back, causing the blonde to wave at him offhandedly, "Oh don't worry.I'm not about to do anything to you unless you honestly attack me. The reason why is quite simple. After I defeated you the first time, or even any of the other Sekireis so far, none of you decided to go after me after that. You acceded, you accepted it even if you didn't like it. She didn't. That was all."

Kagari stared him, completely stunned at the seemingly simplistic logic.

"You Sekireis are so much more amusing compared to simple humans because the same convention does not apply to you. That's all there is to it. Unfettered by humanity's limit, the question here is the outcome. You are stronger, smarter, faster, BETTER, but will that be enough? Or will you simply fade into society quietly? Or will there be an all-out massacre once they inevitably turn on you?" The blonde threw his hands up in an all embracing gesture; the large full moon shadowed his expression.

"Ultimately, I do not care as long as something changes. I don't even care if the world burns itself out in the process as long as it is interesting. Probabilities, wonderful, wonderful possibilities."

Homura could no longer see any of the man's features save his sparkling blue eyes and the glint of fangs in his wide twisted smirk.

The fire user was about to explode at the callousness of the blonde man's words as he reached out to grab the man's lapels.

Toys? There they just toys to him? Was he no better than the mad man Minaka?

Kagari suddenly froze as his gaze landed on his outstretched fists, much to the blonde's silent surprise.

He let go of the blonde and stared at his hand as something seemed to occur to the fire user.

Then the silver haired man began chuckling.

"Shishou…. No wonder Matsu is terrified of you. What did you even do to her?"

Naruto grinned, "See? Amusing."

******Unwavering Sky******

**I forgot to mention exactly what we were flipping the coin for didn't I? Hehehe...**


	10. Malediction and Retaliation

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 10**

**Deceiver**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

**Soundtrack List **

Skillet – Believe

John Dreamer - Brotherhood

Chemistry – Merry go Round

Immediate Music – Sanctus Immortale

Ayumi Hamasaki – Part Of Me

******Unwavering Sky******

"_Yo, lover boy!" _

_A rather lethargic Seo yawned widely as he entered his classroom. Shuffling his way through the rows of chairs and desks, the dark haired boy in the simple black uniform ignored the looks being sent his way before pulling out his designated seat and dropping into it with a grateful sigh, plopping his bag beside the desk carelessly. _

"_You look pretty sleepy, Seo-san. Did you get rejected by another soul mate again?" a tall boy jeered at him from his position in the centre of a group of giggling middle schoolers. _

_Seo merely regarded them with bored indifference._

"_Kyaaah, he's looking this way, run away, I don't want to be confessed to in the middle of class!" the group of girls, dressed in modified uniforms laughed loudly and pretended to hide behind the tall boy, "Save me, Izumi!"_

_The raven haired boy rolled his eyes at their jeering before trying to find the most comfortable spot on his desk for a quick nap before classes started. The new school year was always rather trying. With everyone being fitted into a new class, the more…. __**fashionable**__ students took the chance to insinuate themselves as elites of new factions and hammer out a new dichotomy so to speak._

_One way of doing that just so happened to be picking on those that couldn't fight back. _

_That and seeing a first year student screaming out a confession to one of the more popular girls in broad daylight during the peak of a Culture Festival no doubt left a rather lasting impression. _

"_Oi, why aren't you saying anything, Seo-san?"_

_The boy in question sighed quietly. At any rate, if he ignored it, the teasing usually stopped a few minutes before his homeroom teacher made an appearance. At lunch, he usually left the class room before anybody could start on him, making his way to the roof top where Takehito would join him a little later. _

"_Is it really that fun?" Someone asked calmly, "Picking on someone just because he had the guts to tell a girl he liked her straight to her face?" _

"_What are you talking abo…." The tall well-dressed boy trailed off at the sight of a frowning Takehito staring at him from the door, "Asama-san…."_

"_How…. disappointing." His grey eyes roved the classroom, eyes that narrowed when no one quite managed to look him in the eye, _

_Without another word, Takehito walked towards the apparently sleeping Seo and tapped his shoulder, causing one dark eye to open and stare up at him lazily, "Sup? Why aren't you in your own class?"_

_The valedictorian of their year wrinkled his brows and lowered his voice, "Forget that, why didn't you tell me it was still this bad?" _

"_Would there be any point?" The fourteen year old boy drawled. _

"_I looked about as stupid as you at the time, so why haven't __**I**__ heard anything about this?" _

_The unfazed boy waved at Takehito as his brother took a seat across from him, "That's not really surprising." Seo commented easily, "You're in the best class. You're a top student, good looking and athletic. Everybody wants to be your friend, not mine. Here, I'm just an easier target than Mr. Athlete over there." _

"_But it's been a whole damn year since then." Takehito pointed out agitatedly. _

_This caused his best friend to squint at him with a gimlet eye, "Oyaji was right. You're a little too gullible and trusting." Seo murmured with a sigh and shrugged, "If one year of them talking about that little spastic episode didn't change a thing, saying anything myself would have only made me look even more pathetic. That and I really don't want Oyaji to poke his damned nose into this." Seo muttered lowly, "I want to settle this myself."_

"_So you had to wait for someone to do it for you." Takehito concluded with a side glance at Seo's classmates who had their heads hung in shame, "__**Someone **__who was a decent person." _

"_Well, at least you're not stupid." Seo shrugged lazily, "Unfortunately for me, most of them were either too pathetic to stand up for their own beliefs or too busy having fun justifying their own tiny existence like a limp dick peeing on everybody else having more fun than them in order to look good in front of others." _

"_You've been spending too much time with Tou-san." the grey haired boy pointed out dryly with one eyebrow raised at the tall boy looming over them. The way they provoked people into reacting to them was almost scarily identical. _

"_**What does that mean?!" **_

_Takehito's observation was proven by Seo hiding a sly grin underneath his arm as he turned in his chair to smile at the tall boy lazily, "Ara, was there something you needed from me Izumi-san?" _

"_What were you talking about?!" the normally handsome boy demanded, his features twisted into an angry mask. _

"_Just some simple observations of how…. Interesting schoolyard politics is." Takehito commented politely. _

"_Mmmhmmm," Seo nodded wisely, "So why are you so angry?" the boy's lips curled maliciously, "Might you be feeling a little guilty?"_

_Izumi bristled, "I'm not talking to you Asama-san!" _

"_Ah, but I was having a simple conversation with my friend here. If you were talking to me, that would naturally include him doesn't it?"_

_The grey haired boy smiled innocently as the two boys tag teamed the furious boy, "Please don't take this the wrong way. We're simply trying to remind you that civility generally doesn't include stepping on people you think are below you or butting into conversations." He glanced at the group of students again. Every single one of them averted their eyes, __**"Isn't that right?"**_

"_Why you!" Izumi balled his fists and raised them when Takehito stopped him cold by lifting a single finger._

"_Are you sure you want to do that?" He questioned flatly, "Classes are starting soon, and everyone here can see that you were the one that started a fight first." _

_The two of them mustered as much sweet innocence as they could to smile up at Izumi-san just as the door slid open to admit Seo's homeroom teacher. _

_******Later that day******_

_**Play Skillet - Believe**_

_Naruto blinked as he opened to the door to see his two noticeably bruised and scratched sons being accompanied by a sandy haired man that he recognized as a teacher in their school, "And it isn't even lunch yet." He murmured to himself with an amused smile. _

_Ignoring the man in the brown suit, Naruto ran one hand through his greying blonde hair before staring at the two teenagers with a piercing stare, "Reason." _

_The two of them instantly stiffened at that one simple word before Seo nodded firmly, "Justified." _

_Much to the teacher's confusion, the blonde man standing in the door way continued, "Regret?" _

"_None." _

_Naruto nodded before finally turning his attention to the utterly puzzled teacher with an extended hand, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, their guardian. Thank you for bringing them home, is there anything else I can help you with?"_

_The sandy haired man felt cold sweat began to run down his back at the blonde man's measuring stare before he seemed to swallow the uncertain lump in his throat, "It's my pleasure, I'm Hattori Yuujiro, Principal of Azabu Junior High." He said with a disapproving glance at the two fourteen year olds, "I'd like to have a word with you about your children's behaviour." _

_The self-assured blonde's almost regal presence seemed to get a little heavier at his words before he finally nodded and ushered them in, "The two of you can go get cleaned up and meet us in the reception hall when you are ready." _

_The man that he now knew was named Hattori seemed to nod approvingly as the straight backed blonde man in the kimono politely led him to the reception room and poured a cup of tea while they sat at the low table._

"_As you know-"_

"_Please wait until Kaoru and Takehito are here." Naruto cut him off with a flat look that prompted the man to swallow thickly. _

"_A-are you a foreigner?" Hattori asked with a quaver in his voice as the man's overbearing presence eroded his confidence. _

_Naruto simply smiled thinly as he observed the man's every movement and twitch, "Something like that."_

_Under the blonde's implacable stare, the Principal began to fidget uncontrollably in his seat as the conversation instantly died just like that. _

_He almost cried in relief when the sliding doors opened again to admit the two cleaned up fourteen year olds. _

_As the two of them took a seat beside the blonde with their heads lowered, Naruto spoke calmly, "You mentioned that you are here to see me about their unacceptable behaviour?" _

_Hattori-san sat up with a start and tried to gather himself, "Ye-yes, the two of them were caught fighting with another student right before class started. Their friends have made it clear that they weren't the ones to start a fight, but neither of them will explain why they fought back." _

_Naruto cocked his head as if he had trouble comprehending something, "And this was something that necessitated their Principal to visit me personally?"_

"_I was hoping that you could persuade them to explain," the sandy haired man replied as he began sweating again, "Izumi-san, the boy they were fighting with insists that they were insulting his dignity, and unless they speak up, Izumi-san's parents have already stated that they will do whatever they can to destroy your sons' futures." The Principal seemed to look at the impassive blonde with pleading eyes, "Asama-san is one of the brightest students we have and I know that he has applied to Kaisei Academy, I do not wish to see him rejected because of his stubbornness." _

"_I see…." Naruto nodded swiftly, "You may leave now," _

"_What? Wha-what about the explanation?" Hattori dabbed at his shiny forehead with a handkerchief._

"_There's no need for one." Naruto replied dismissively, "If Izumi-san's parents wish to take matters into their own hands, they are free to do so." _

_The slightly overweight man gaped at the seemingly lackadaisical blonde, "Let them do what they want? How can you say that? This is your son's future we're talking about here!" _

"_That is a noble sentiment, but you seem to be misunderstanding something," Naruto commented with a silky smile, "They are already aware that using violence was a bad idea, but considered breaking this Izumi boy's face as something that was worth it. As a result they chose not to explain themselves; thereby accepting the responsibility for their actions without hesitation. As far as I am concerned, those idiot parents can do what they want, but I never said I would let them succeed." _

_The teacher's mouth opened and closed like a dying goldfish, "Bu-But…. You can't just let this go!"_

"_Is it really the case here? Aren't you just projecting your own uselessness on my children?" The blonde observed the man's spluttering with a cold expression, "Correct me if I'm wrong but let's see if I can guess what you're trying to do here."_

_The older man steepled his fingers thoughtfully, "I must make an obvious attempt to punish them so that __**you**__ don't have to while I provide a logical reason for their actions. That way, you can confidently tell the Izumi's, who I seem to recall are a major donators to Azabu Junior High that the boys that broke their precious child's face in two were punished fittingly. At the same time, you can persuade them to keep donating __**and**__ limit the damage they do to your school's already poor reputation with the reasons provided."_

_Naruto smiled at the pale white man, "It's a rather interesting way to keep every side happy while you get to keep your conscience clean. You bow to their wishes because they fund the school. I must bow because that's the way things work. Small fries like us have no way of rebelling so we should just grit our teeth and kneel." _

_The blonde's smile seemed to grow wider at the man's near catatonia before he leaned forward and delivered the last blow, "How do you see yourself in the mirror every morning? Why are you teaching? Was it just because it was easy? Or did you actually want to help students grow up into good, decent people?" _

_Receiving no audible reply other than ragged breaths, Naruto smiled serenely, "Please take care on your way home." _

_The man silently stumbled out of the old fashioned house, leaving behind a cold, awkward silence hanging between the three tenants._

_Long after the man had stumbled out their home in a stunned stupor, Takehito shuffled in his seat uncomfortably, "Why did you do that Tou-san?"_

_The man who was still working on some documents looked up nonchalantly, "Do what?"_

"_He was just doing his job." Takehito quietly said, "There was no reason to attack him the way you did." _

"_That he was," the blonde replied with a callous shrug, "But it doesn't change the fact that he was trying to dodge responsibility."_

"_It was wrong." The grey haired boy stated firmly, "You taught us that we have to staqnd up for what we believe in and we did. We refused to explain ourselves because we know that even if we didn't start the fight, we still resorted to violence because it was satisfying even if it wasn't right. And now, I believe that what you did was __**wrong.**__"_

_The blonde gently placed down his feather pen, "What I did will only affect him if he has a conscience. I wouldn't have done it if I thought he was an unrepentant fool." _

"_That doesn't justify ANYTHING!" Takehito argued angrily, "What do you think would happen if you just attacked his reason to live just like that?!" _

_Unaware that it was a rhetorical question, the blonde replied casually, "Tomorrow, I can guarantee that your principal will be absent from school. He will not be there for a week. By the end of the week, one of three things will happen. The first, your principal will have committed suicide." _

_The look in the blonde's eyes as he continued to talk about it with the air of one talking about the weather, told the boy that his adopted father truly saw nothing wrong in playing with people's lives._

_Especially not if they reacted like any normal person would. _

"_The second, your principal will either return, acting as if nothing has changed even as the guilt gnaws at his soul and his world falls around him." Naruto continued, heedless of Takehito's wide eyed stare, "And the last will only happen if he can find the strength to take my words to heart and stand up to fight for his beliefs. Of course, even if he does that, he might still fail because it is not profitable and he will be fired from his job, losing his pension and family in the process." _

"_You're wrong…." _

_The blonde cocked his head at the quiet words. _

"_You're wrong Tou-san. I believed you were better than this." _

_The two boys left a pensive Naruto behind._

_Leaning back onto the paper screen, the blonde sighed and took a small sip from his saucer._

_He couldn't seem to remember how long it had been since he had someone that genuinely believed he was a good person. _

******Unwavering Sky******

Dull corn flower blue eyes stared up at the open sky blankly. She had run away on pure instinct. Trying to get away from that nightmare as fast as she could, to the point where she had long since stopped caring where her feet had taken her

She could still remember the feeling.

Cold, ghastly fingers clawing at her skin and clothes as the dismembered blondes, child, man, woman, wailed at her like monsters as they spurt blood from gaping wounds. But the thing that hit her the hardest had been the words they vomited along with their guts.

She was no different from the low born monkeys she claimed to hate.

A terrible shudder ran down her back and the woman dug deeper into the bushes, keeping away from the light as much as possible and the dirty, blonde woman drew her knees up and hugged them protectively.

Droplets of moisture dampened the white fabric when the sound of a twig crunching under someone's boots reached her ears. The detached woman ignored it in favour of staring at the sky blankly.

The crunching of boots slowly got nearer and nearer to the uncaring woman until a dark figure, obscured by the moon hanging in the sky behind him, loomed above her.

Bleary blue eyes stared at the shadow mechanically as it knelt down in front of her without a word and began to carefully pick out the stray leaves and twigs caught in her long yellow hair. Grunting lightly, he slipped his arms under the distant woman and hefted up.

What happened after that was a blur to her. Dark streets and buildings hazily blurred past her mechanical stare and the man said nothing, she was at least sure that it was a male because of his broad shoulders since every other feature was obscured by a deep shadow.

All she remembered was the man gently carried her to a dark room before he cleaned her smudged body with a wet sponge and tucked her into a soft, downy bed.

He said nothing, and neither did she.

She made no move to resist, simply letting the man do whatever he wanted.

******Unwavering Sky******

Naruto whistled tunelessly to himself as he opened the door to Izumo Inn. Gently slipping of his boots, the blonde man stealthily crept through the house, mostly since he had no desire to suffer Miya's wrath for that little slip of the tongue.

No doubt the woman was still steaming somewhere in Izumo, waiting to fillet his…..

The blonde's lips quirked in amusement as he came upon the woman in question slumbering in the reception hall.

The purple haired woman snored quietly, her head resting on her splayed out arms as she slept on the low table in a noticeably uncomfortable position. The blonde was about to try and carry her to bed when he noticed the gleaming of a slightly withdrawn katana resting on her lap.

Yellow eyebrows twitched, did she really have to go that far just to try and punish him?

Deciding not to risk his limbs, the blonde shrugged off his jacket as quietly as possible and draped it over the sleeping woman.

Sighing softly to himself, the blonde tiredly tracked through the dark and still hallways to his room.

His weariness seemed to fade away a little at the sight of Akitsu and Kaho clinging to each other in their futon. Wearing a half smile, the blonde quietly changed into something a little more comfortable compared to jeans and slipped into the futon beside Kaho.

As if they could sense his presence, Akitsu, who was on the side furthest away from him tried to push herself closer, edging the poor blonde out of the futon.

A sweat dropping Naruto made a mental reminder to purchase a bigger one as soon as he could. There was no way sleeping with his butt half hanging out of the futon would ever be comfortable.

******Unwavering Sky******

Blue eyes blinked sleepily as Naruto woke up to the sounds of birds chirping outside his window. Tilting his head upside down, the blonde gave the navy blue skies outside his window a quick glance and sighed, feeling rather glad that he had woken up in time to greet the sun.

Reflexively, the blonde tried to stretch the kinks out of his muscles when he realized that his limbs felt inordinately heavy for some strange reason. Gazing downwards, a small smile escaped his lips as he saw that Akitsu and Kaho had somehow claimed one arm each and cuddled up to him sometime during the night.

Heaving a quiet grunt, the blonde man tried to pull himself out of their pincer clamp.

He almost cried at the blasphemy of wanting to escape from being pinned between two beautiful women.

"Naruto-sama?" The black haired woman on his left mumbled sleepily, "Is that you?"

"I certainly hope so," The blonde replied quietly so that he didn't wake Akitsu up as well, "I wouldn't want another man stuck between you two."

Kaho seemed to shudder in disgust at the thought, "No. I wouldn't want that either." She replied as primly as she could with a sleepy smile. A funny, warm feeling rose up in the blonde's chest at the raven haired woman's sleepy yet affectionate expression and he found himself leaning in closer.

Kaho smiled beatifically as she wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and kissed back. A tidal wave of pleasure crashed into the woman, washing away any remaining sleepiness that she may have had.

Breathing a little deeper, Naruto detached himself from Kaho's lips with a wet sound. Licking her taste of his lips, the blonde grinned at his Sekirei's face, his mind racing at a sudden pulse of emotion he was receiving from her.

A flushed Kaho stared up at him with a similarly wide grin and dazed eyes, her long black hair fanned out around her, framing her red and bruised lips. Pure white wings of almost solid energy fluttered around her.

She looked like an angel, her white kimono was completely mussed and wrinkled, displaying snow white shoulders and accentuating her long legs.

Feeling like teasing her a little, the blonde, guided by the pure emotions coming from Kaho, lowered his lips to the fair skinned column of her neck and bit her as he wrapped her arms around her in a possessive manner, corrupting the pale skin with a red mark as she moaned even louder, her body arching up so that she could feel his warmth.

His mouth slowly made its way up her neck and chin, until he captured her lips again and kissed her as hard as he could as her hands scrabbled under his shirt.

"Oh, Kami… wha…. What a-are you doing to meee?" The woman under him groaned through the kiss.

The blonde smiled wickedly as he kissed her even harder and ground his crotch against the juncture of her spread legs as he looped the connection back to her. Her nails dug painfully into the skin of his back, as if she was trying to pull their bodies as close as possible when her body suddenly went into a rigid arc.

Black irises rolled up in their sockets as an insensate Kaho finally came down from her high, crashing back onto the bed limply.

Smiling a little smugly, the blonde sat up, only to jump a little as he noticed pale grey eyes staring at both of them with an almost unnoticeably tiny pout. Her cheeks were flushed a deep red, standing out from her snow white skin as one hand made its way between her legs with ragged breathing.

Naruto shuffled over to her and gently pushed her onto her back, "You felt the overflow didn't you?" He whispered quietly in her ear before softly biting her earlobe.

The snow woman shuddered at the feeling of the blonde's breathes running down her sensitive neck and nodded slowly.

"What do you want me to do?" A flustered Akitsu merely stared up at him with expressive grey eyes as the shinobi's wicked smile returned. He deliberately removed the woman's hand from between her legs and suck on her dripping fingers, savouring the taste. Once they were clean, Naruto pinned her arms above her and pressed her body to the futon with his body weight. His free hand made its way into her night shirt, exploring the hidden skin with vigour, trailing along her breasts before making their way downwards as Naruto kept her lips busy.

Pleasure soaked her brains as Akitsu kept trying to clear the gap between the bodies, her hips jerked against empty air, but the blonde's hand kept her pinned to the bed, teasingly pushing her to the edge and promptly stopping there much to her disappointment. Already somewhat dazed by the surge of energy and passion, Akitsu gasped silently as the blonde's hands slid into her panties and pretty much stopped there.

She almost began screaming amidst her frustrated whines until Naruto's nimble fingers unexpectedly thrust into her sacred place with one powerful push.

This time she _did _scream, and it was the loudest thing Naruto had ever heard from the quiet woman.

Humming somewhat proudly to himself, the blonde gently covered the two unconscious women with the blankets and stood up with a pleasurable stretch. Naruto figured he should probably cook something up as an apology for frying their brains when he opened the door and almost bumped right into the person standing right outside their room.

It was probably a good thing that he had remembered to cover Kaho and Akitsu, Naruto thought as purple eyes stared up at him owlishly. Her open mouth snapped shut with a click and she silently handed his jacket to him.

"Uh thanks?" Naruto mumbled unsurely.

Miya nodded with an uncharacteristic silence before freezing mid bow when her eyes made contact with his morning condition.

Considering what he had been doing mere seconds ago, this was probably expected.

The landlady slowly turned white then red.

She cycled through a few other colours before finally settling on a curious shade of purple.

Naruto lifted one finger, "One moment please."

He left Miya standing there stupidly and re-entered the room where she could hear some muffled banging.

The door opened again and Naruto re-emerged with a gracious smile as if nothing untoward had happened, "Good morning Miya."

The woman nodded silently, she didn't exactly trust her mouth at the moment, as the two of them awkwardly stood there like a couple of innocent high schoolers.

The two of them almost sighed in relief when the door belonging to Minato's room slammed open loudly, breaking the heavy atmosphere between the two of them, and a panicked Minato stumbled out of his room with a yelp, "Matsu! Stop that! If Miya-san sees us, we're going to get into trouble!"

The white ghost-like woman who was currently clinging to his lower half like a leech giggled lewdly as she tried to pull off his pants, "Why are you even talking about that stick? Just ignore her and let Matsu-nee chan help you with _this _stick. It must be uncomfortable right?"

Minato swallowed thickly with a pinched expression, "Because she's standing behind you."

The already white skinned redhead paled to the point where she began to look transparent as Minato finally stumbled free of her limp grasp.

"Oh fuck."

Miya did not reply. No words were needed as her glare said everything for her, arguably making the purple haired woman even scarier than usual. A thick Hannya mask hovered over the battlefield as Miya slapped Matsu around with her mouth sealed tightly.

It was rather gratifying, Naruto admitted to himself, to see Matsu get beaten into a pulp, though Miya probably went a little overboard with her Ladle of Doom.

Then again, if he took what had just happened before that into consideration, he figured Matsu was lucky to even be alive.

He was just thankful to be unscathed.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play John Dreamer - Brotherhood**

Minato gingerly poked at the bruise that Miya's pinch had left on his face before discreetly smiling somewhat painfully. After the landlady had finally vented all her anger on the pervert, she finally heaved a relieved sigh and bestowed upon him a disappointed look, a painful pinch on the cheek and her first words of the day, _"Perverted actions are prohibited in Izumo Inn."_

"Should I start calling the police now that you've awakened to the pleasures of being a masochist?" Naruto commented dryly at the sight of Minato's tiny grin.

The dark haired boy blushed in embarrassment at being noticed, "Mou, it's nothing like that, Uzumaki-san."

"Right….. Very convincing."

"I'm serious," Minato chuckled, "It might sound a little strange, but Miya pinching me like that was a little fun. I wasn't very close to my mother, so getting scolded like that made me a little happy."

"That's what people call masochism around here." Naruto observed dryly.

"You're not one to talk, Naruto-sama." A recovered Kaho who had been sitting at Naruto's side and eavesdropping on the conversation none too stealthily remarked with a knowing grin.

One bemused eyebrow rose, "I'm pretty sure I don't swing that way."

"Really?" Kaho drawled with a complete unsubtle glance in his direction, "But you enjoy it every time Akitsu freezes you. I could even feel a thrill run up your back every time I hit you."

The blonde coughed uncomfortably, "I'm not sure what you're talking about." He hedged.

Akitsu who was sitting on the other side of the table nodded with a deliberate look and joined in the teasing with her typical monotone, "Neck."

Kaho nodded wisely, "I almost forgot those. You like our necks don't you, Naruto-sama? That's why you prefer kimonos so much since they tempt you with that slight hint of white, innocent, vulnerable skin," Kaho murmured breathily, which wasn't really helping him all things considered, "You want to slowly claim it don't you?"

If the gloomy aura rumbling behind him was any indication, Kaho was obviously saying it loud enough so that Miya could hear every single word loud and clear despite her quiet, sensual tone.

In spite of his rather large repertoire of skills, the blonde had yet to find out how to read minds but he sure as hell didn't need it since he had no doubt whatsoever that the two of them were doing this as a form of revenge for this morning.

"Skirts." The snow user reminded evenly as she continued to feed a bouncing and thankfully oblivious Kusano on her lap.

"Ah yes, skirts," Kaho leaned into his side sensually as she rubbed her legs, just enough to reveal a slight hint of pale skin. She smiled when she heard a slight gulp from beside her as he desperately tried to shuffle away, "You like those too don't you? The way they tempt you every time they flutter, taunting you with the treasures hidden beneath that little piece of fabric."

"**NUUUOOO, DON'T REVEAL MY FETISHES IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY!"** the blonde cried tears of anguish, rolling on the floor as if he was in actual physical pain.

"Admit it, Naruto-sama. You're a massive masochist that likes to be teased." Kaho cackled an unladylike manner as the blonde crawled to a corner in order to hide his burning face.

Naruto glared at the laughing congregation from his corner of gloom, "Go ahead and keep laughing," He mumbled, "You'll get what's coming to you!"

Kaho giggled at her Ashikabi's childish declaration when she felt someone tap her shoulders. Cocking her head, she glanced down at the curious Musubi, "Kaho-nee chan, what does fetish mean? How do you feel those?"

The raven haired woman smiled down at her sister tolerantly, "You're too young to understand Musubi. Maybe when you're older."

"Muuu!" The brown haired girl pouted with her fists raised indignantly, "I'm old enough! I'm just a few months younger then _you! _I can feel it too!"

Seeing her older sister only giggle even harder just annoyedthe competitive girl, "I can really feel it too! It's that feeling that Minato-sama gets whenever we bath together right?!"

The laughter instantly died.

Even Naruto's sobbing stopped just so that he could hear this.

"He feels like that every night!" The brown haired girl shouted innocently, "He always wants to touch me whenever I wear Yukari's clothes." Musubi cocked her head with a pout, completely unaware of her Ashikabi's rapidly paling face and frantic shakes of the head, "But I don't know why he doesn't…."

Musubi turned to a progressively more and more upset Miya, "Every time Minato-sama sees Miya-san cook, he feels warm as well. He wants to hug you. He wants to hug Uzume-chan too! Especially whenever she doesn't wear anything!"

Competition forgotten, Musubi turned back to Kaho with a innocently curious expression. The raven haired woman was currently turning blue in a desperate attempt to stop herself from just collapsing into giggles, "Why doesn't he? Hugging is **GOOD**!"

Minato felt a heavy hand clapping on him on his shoulder and the younger boy looked up, hoping for some support. He was seriously going to cry otherwise.

Only to find a scarred Naruto who had completely healed from his nervous breakdown by absorbing the energy from Minato's misfortune, smiling sweetly down at him.

"What's your favourite flower?"

"What? Why?"

"For your funeral."

"**DWAAAAAH!" **

******Unwavering Sky******

"It's strange." Minato commented quietly after everyone had finally calmed themselves down and went back to breakfast, but not before Miya had extracted her pound of flesh from both him and Naruto-san.

The bruised blonde man sitting a few feet away from him cocked his head weakly, "What is?"

"Seeing them so happy." Minato motioned at Kusano who was being fed on Akitsu's lap, "I think I almost understand why Kaho-san says that you like being hit. It sort of helps balance things out since everything feels almost disturbingly perfect. I was a little scared of how strong and powerful all of them were, it almost incredible how strikingly innocent and sincere they are." The boy grinned somewhat sheepishly, "But now, everyone is talking, joking like a real family. If getting hit a few times means I get to keep it this way, then I don't mind."

"That's…. a fairly good assessment." The blonde admitted with some surprise before he smiled coyly, "Let me ask you a question."

"Hmmm?"

"There was once a boy who was blessed by God, he would succeed in EVERYTHING he did. The only caveat that God gave him was that he could not pass his ideals onto other people. No matter what happened, this boy would forever be alone. However, this blessing took the form of two large wings that couldn't be hidden. As the boy grew up, he was ostracized by everybody, some hated him for his creepy wings, and some were jealous of him. The boy couldn't even persuade them that he could help because of that caveat because everybody would automatically think he was lying."

Minato frowned as the blonde seemed to scoff to himself, "Expecting them to at least have some decency was about as effective as relying on armour made of beefsteak in an enclosure filled with hungry lions but that's beside the point. So this boy grew up bitter and angry, and decided to destroy the world. Needless to say, given the nature of his blessing, he would be extremely successful."

Naruto paused to sip some sake from his saucer before continuing, "Now, between the boy and everybody else, who do you pity more?"

Minato looked at him as if he was crazy, "The boy of course!"

"Really? You don't pity everybody else?" The blonde's strange smile widened, throwing his pointed fangs into sharp relief, "4 billion people died, 3 billion people who had never met this boy, 3 billion people whose only sin was to be born at the same time as the 1 billion weak willed people that wronged the boy. You don't pity them at all?"

The blonde could only smile at the indecisive boy sympathetically. Getting up, he patted the boy on the back, "Don't think about it so much. It was just a rhetorical question."

As the blonde stretched, he muttered to himself, "One that I never managed to answer."

A small hand tugged on his pinkie, prompting him to look down and grin at Kusano.

Kneeling down, he wiped the jam of her grinning mouth with his sleeve, "Want to go out for a drive with Jii-chan?"

"Drive?" Kusano asked with a cute tilt of the head, "What's that? Does it taste good?"

The much taller blonde sweat dropped as he was forcibly reminded of Akitsu's question.

"Tell you what," Naruto hefted the squealing girl onto his shoulders with ease, "Why don't you try it out first, then tell me if it tastes good?"

Eyes gleaming at being responsible for something, Kusano nodded cheerfully, determined to do her best and not fail the nice, whiskered man.

"Do you mind, Minato?"

The dark haired boy who was still staring at him shook his head slowly, "That's fine. I'll be out working anyway."

"Kaho, Akitsu, you two coming? I'm going to take Ku-chan on a drive before I put the car back into storage."

Grunting quietly, Akitsu stood up; feeling a little stuffed due to laughing so much after a big breakfast, and helped a similarly stuffed Kaho to stand up, "Coming."

Miya poked her head from the kitchen, "If you're going out with the car, I want to come too."

The blonde waggled his eyebrows at her teasingly, "I thought you were scared of cars."

"I am _not _scared of cars. I just find them uncomfortable." The refined landlady replied primly as she wiped her hands on the apron before hanging it up, "Besides now that there's a car, I can do much more grocery instead of a bit at a time." She smiled impishly, "It even comes with a built in bag boy."

"Oh, so _that's_ your true purpose for coming." Naruto replied dryly as the three women went upstairs to get changed.

As he watched their retreating backs, the blonde smiled to himself.

"Well… I guess I don't need the answer just yet."

******Unwavering Sky******

"Excuse me, could I have one kilogram of the fish please?"Miya politely asked the sleepy looking lady manning the counter.

The overweight woman's eyes lit up, "Ah, Miya-chan, it's been a long time!"

Miya responded with a quiet, "Fufufu, not that long. Nakai-san."

"Who says," curly brown hair bounced energetically as Nakai-san flitted around the shop, gathering the requested fish and a little extra for her first customer since the day started, "Nowadays, the only people I see from your Inn is Musubi-chan. You should come once in a while too!"

The purple haired lady smiled faintly, the two of them had known each other for nearly a decade now and got a long fairly well. Which was another way of saying that she was already used to the brown haired woman's nonstop chatter, "I'll try, Nakai-san, but no promises. The Inn has been rather busy lately."

"Troublesome tenants?" the middle aged woman probed cheekily.

"Quite." Miya replied dryly.

"Any useful info?"

Digging a few notes out of her purse and placing them on the counter, Miya shook her head, "None that I can think off."

A tall blonde man with scars running down his arms and face poked his head in through the front of the shop, a giggling blonde girl riding on his shoulders, "Miya? You're taking kinda long, is something wrong?"

Miya very nearly face palmed as the curly haired woman looked like she was about to start drooling with glee, "None huh? Funny how I can think of one right now."

The blonde idling by the door way quirked one eyebrow at the two women who had abruptly begun playing an impromptu game of tug of war with the poor fish as the rope.

"Very." Miya grit out through grinding teeth as she tried to pry her fish out of the gossipy lady's fingers.

"Even though you two sound close enough that he doesn't use honorifics?" Nakai replied in a hushed whisper as she hung onto the fish like it was the last bag of fish on Earth.

"It's because he's an idiot with no sense of delicacy." Miya hissed back with a slight flush.

"Come on, you can trust me. You've never come here with a man before... And you don't even have to say Kagari-san," Nakai wheedled gleefully, "Because we all know he doesn't walk the straight path."

Pursing her lips, Miya finally dragged the bag of fish out of Nakai's claws with one last heave and smiled sweetly, "Have a good day, Nakai-san."

"**Nuuuoh! Comeee baccck!"** The gossipy shop keeper cried out pitifully at Miya's retreating back, pausing only to drag the curious man along by his earlobe.

Outside of the shop, Miya released the blonde's earlobe with a relieved sigh before glaring at the two blondes, "I thought the two of you were going to buy some sweets?"

"Bought," Naruto started, "And eaten!" Kusano finished with a wide sticky grin.

Shaking her head with exasperation, Miya reached up to wipe Kusano's sticky mouth with a handkerchief, "That's unbecoming of a lady, Ku-chan."

"Muu… but… Kaho-nee chan and Akitsu-nee chan are sticky too…" the little blonde girl pointed at where the two other Sekirei were waiting for them.

Both of them also happened to be stuffing their faces with cotton candy and some other snacks.

At Miya's disapproving look, Naruto simply shrugged helplessly before making a markedly feeble attempt at chastising them, "Just don't eat all of them. I bought some for Musubi as well."

"Let's just finish this up so that we can go home faster." She muttered under her breath.

"Finally regretting it?" the tall blonde who had heard her mutter, asked with a sly smile, "What did that woman say to rile you up so much anyway?"

"Don't push it." Miya replied grumpily.

Naruto shrugged again as she began gliding away with a stiff back. Beside him Akitsu licked the last of the cotton candy off her fingers in satisfaction and leaned into Naruto with a content huff while a slightly more cultured Kaho walked with Miya.

"You're really enjoying life aren't you?" Naruto commented dryly.

The snow woman extracted herself from the blonde hesitantly, "Sorry."

"It was a joke, Akitsu." The blonde noted blandly. When Akitsu continued to stay a feet apart from him with a nearly hangdog expression that damn near broke his heart, Naruto rolled his eyes, "You can hug me now."

The little frown cleared and Akitsu reattached herself to the blonde's arm with a content smile.

**Play Chemistry – Merry go Round**

The little strange group of Sekirei and Immortal slowly wound their way through the street lined with shops, occasionally stopping to sample some food or for Miya to pick up some supplies when Naruto stopped at a cake shop.

Glancing between the colourful contents of the shop and the group behind him, he frowned slightly, "Do any of you know your birthdays?"

"It was never important to us." Kaho replied with a shrug while Akitsu shook her head mutely whereas Ku-chan stared up at him with her large green eyes, "What's a birthday?"

"It's an important day for everybody." Naruto smiled softly at the small inquisitive girl, "We celebrate it every year as a way to thank Kami for letting us be alive."

Her little nose wrinkled up cutely, "Why do we need to thank him?"

"Well… not him exactly…" Naruto trailed off with a half-hearted smile. He didn't really think he needed to confuse Ku-chan with complicated philosophy. Grinning, he lifted the small girl in his arms with an affectionate smile, "Did you like that cotton candy?"

Kusano nodded her head vigorously, causing the taller blonde to grin, "If I said you can't have any cotton candy anymore, would you be sad?"

"Uuu…." Her large emerald green eyes watered, "Very sad."

"If you weren't here today, if you weren't alive, you wouldn't have known what cotton candy tasted like, right?" the older blonde pointed out with a strangely reasonable tone.

"Muu…." The little girl's complicated frown looked like she was thinking about the secrets of life, "Then…. Can my Birthday be today?"

"Why today?"

Clear eyes glinted with a sincere depth as the tiny girl looked at him with her little palms clasping his cheeks, "Because today is the day you let me taste cotton candy."

The blonde seemingly froze for a moment before unfreezing with slow, mechanical gestures.

"Ah…." The man hesitated, "I can't decide when your birthday is. You'll have to ask Minato about that. He's your Ashikabi right? You have to celebrate with him instead of me."

"I'll celebrate with both of you." She declared firmly.

The older blonde nodded uncertainly, "Why don't you… go play with everybody else for a while. Naruto-jii chan is feeling a little thirsty."

As the little blonde girl scampered off and clambered onto Miya's lap, the blonde gave them an apologetic look before wearily slunk away to find the closest alcohol shop.

"Shall we find a seat?" Kaho murmured, feeling a little warm.

Together, the four of them found a small collection of benches to wait for Naruto to regain his usual good humour. Gently, Akitsu removed Kusano from Miya's arms and hugged the child tightly, burying her face in the small child's hair affectionately.

Out of the two, she was arguably the one which had been affected the most by Pinoko's efforts.

"Most of the time, all we get from Naruto is a vague feeling." Kaho began quietly, her eyes riveted on Akitsu and Kusano, "A slight warmth over the connection, a slight sense of happiness and comfort. But sometimes, when he's feeling particularly overwhelmed, like just now, I can see a set of images flashing through my mind. That's not what normally happens, but his feelings for it are just that strong and I have no doubt Akitsu already realized it."

The raven haired woman leaned back into her chair, looking slightly pale as she covered her eyes with one hand, "The strength of that image exhausts me a little."

"What was it?"Miya asked stiffly.

"We're not sure if it's a memory or if it's a dream," Kaho said quietly, "We see Naruto, dressed in a simple coat and holding a brief case. He looks like a normal person coming home from work. He'll open some sort of door and tip toe in." The naginata user breathed in deeply to centre herself, "Silently, he walks to the kitchen where we can just barely see someone standing there, cooking something but we can't see her face. In the kitchen, there's a table, and there are two other smaller shadows sitting at the table. Children, and that's all we see."

Kaho rubbed her eyes tiredly and fell silent, already extremely exhausted just remembering the series of images.

"It's what he wants most." Akitsu murmured as she softly stroked Kusano's hair.

******Unwavering Sky******

Naruto knocked back a cup of highly expensive, chilled sake and groaned in relief as he felt the cold liquid burn its way down his throat.

"Good stuff eh?" the stranger beside him commented jovially.

"Yeah," Naruto laughed loudly, "Just what I needed after a long day."

"I can definitely understand that." The man replied with a light tone, "Only a hard worker would understand the satisfaction of drinking some nice chilled sake after a day at the office."

The man poured Naruto another saucer from his own jug, "Here, have some more. It's on me."

The blonde smiled shakily and drank it in one go, savouring the flavour of chilled melon running down the back of his tongue. Digging out some notes, he was about to place them on the bar when the stranger's hand clamped down on his wrist with surprising strength, "Don't worry about it. This one is on me. After twenty years, I finally managed to pay this debt."

"Twenty years? What are you…?" Blue eyes widened in recognition, "Hattori-san?"

The balding man sitting beside him smiled serenely, "It's nice to meet you after so long, Uzumaki-san."

"I was…. Out of town."

"I don't blame you." The fat man replied candidly, "If my son passed away like that, I would have gone away as well." He poured Naruto another cup, "No one should outlive their children."

"How… true." Naruto's lips twisted as he sipped the cup slowly, "How is the school?"

"Doing well," Hattori replied easily, "Surprisingly so in fact, especially since someone secretly began donating large amounts of money after I broke that brat's father's nose." He winked in a conspiratorial manner, "Don't tell anyone I said that. I'm supposed to be impartial as the Principal."

"I… won't. Naruto replied lamely.

"Mmhmm…" Hattori continued with a content smile, "The funny thing was, this person waited until I was nearly fired before he intervened. It was almost he was testing to see if I deserved help. Sort of like saying that I need to help myself before he will eh?"

"He's either too free or too stupid." The blonde commented with a smile as he finished the drink and placed the saucer down gently with a respectful bow, "I hope you have a happy life, Hattori-san."

"Ahh.. I'm already content with my life. I did what I wanted to." The chubby man patted him on the shoulder jovially, "You on the other hand…. Don't fret too much eh?"

The two men chuckled to themselves as the blonde left the sandy haired man, sipping his sake alone at the bar.

"How…. Interesting."

******Unwavering Sky******

Stuffing his hands in his pocket, Naruto whistled a quiet but happy tune to himself as he went looking for Ku-chan and everybody else by following his nose. It didn't take long for him to find the four of them waiting for him on a set of benches, prompting the blonde to tilt his head, "Why is everyone just sitting here? I thought you wanted to do it in one go."

Miya, who seemed rather subdued for some strange reason, only smiled faintly, "I think this will be enough. Let's go home."

Naruto squinted at the three older Sekirei suspiciously and nodded slowly, "Alright." Bending down, he helped gather up two of three bags that Miya was holding.

It took about half an hour for the five of them to reach Izumo Inn, Miya's unnatural stiffness and his two Sekirei's exhausted silence the entire way home only served to aggravate his curiosity even more. Even Kusano seemed to realize that something was wrong and stayed quiet, snuggling close to Akitsu's embrace.

As the car stopped in front of the Inn, Naruto flinched and groaned, "Does anyone have any perfume?"

"I have some scents," Miya replied curiously, "Why?"

The blonde accepted the offered bag gratefully and basically stuffed them up his nose, "You'll know soon enough."

Sure enough, as soon as all of them exited the vehicle, all three of the older Sekirei's stiffened. Or rather, Kaho and Miya stiffened; Akitsu just looked like she was half asleep.

"Miya…. It's good to see you again."

The purple haired lady instinctively reached for her blade, only to remember with some chagrin that she had left it in the Inn. Replacing the radish in her bag, purple eyes pierced Karasuba with hostility, "I thought I told you never to come here again."

"Ahh…. But this time I was ordered to come; besides I got to see Musubi-chan as well." The grey haired woman in the black half kimono replied almost lazily.

Miya's gaze briefly landed on the stony blonde as she instantly deduced that Minaka was finally desperate enough to talk to the blonde.

Enough that he was willing to send Karasuba to Izumo despite her presence.

"I don't care what he wants. You will not harm a tena…" Miya began with a growl when a masculine hand gently held her wrist.

"That's enough Miya. As long as this building stands, it will never refuse a guest," His deep voice rumbled with steely authority, "It's the little things like that that separate us from animals."

Karasuba blinked at the strange looking blonde with two bags stuffed up his nose, "Have I… met you before?"

"Yes," Naruto replied plainly, "I threw you through a wall once. The wall didn't like it."

The black Sekirei who was leaning on the gate laughed deeply, "You are a brave man, brave enough to tease something you shouldn't."

"So I've been told." The blonde commented dryly as he led her into the house.

Musubi's head poked out from behind the door, her large brown eyes shone with curiosity, "Karasuba? Naruto-sama? What's going on?"

"Musubi, please take Ku-chan upstairs and stay there until I call you." The blonde replied softly, all trace of humour gone from his countenance.

The brown haired girl blinked. She wanted to stay and play with Karasuba but something in the blonde's soft request sparked an emotion she was not very familiar with.

Fear.

"Ha-hai, Naruto-sama." Embracing the small girl in the white dress, Musubi kept her head low and quickly ran up the stairs without arguing while the four adults sat around the low table, with Naruto sitting at the head of the table; Kaho and Akitsu taking up seats beside him while Miya sat away as far as possible without being overtly rude.

On the other side of the table, Karasuba lounged alone with an impudent smirk.

"What will you have? Tea?" The blonde inquired softly as he began serving some snacks they had bought at the market.

"Water will do." Karasuba drawled as she accepted the plate of Takoyaki.

"Very well." The blonde nodded gracefully as he poured her a cup of lukewarm water, "Now, what does the Leader of the Disciplinary Squad want with me?"

Karasuba laughed lightly, "You are a very strange man... you look to be a normal civilian that somehow knows of my reputation, yet you are completely unfazed by my presence, and now you offer me, the feared Black Sekirei **TAKOYAKI**?"

"Well… yes," The man said nonchalantly, "Now eat up, it'll get cold." He reprimanded her as he busied himself making some green tea to go with the dish.

"Getting to the point, Minaka wants you to come over for a little chat." Karausba drawled, before placing a small cell phone on the table, pushing it over to him gently, "He is very interested in you."

Quirking one eyebrow, the blonde picked up the cell phone. The moment his skin came in contact with the cool cast metal of the cell phone, it began to ring loudly, causing most, if not everybody in the room to jump a little. Almost nonchalantly, Naruto flipped the phone open to see a white haired man's face displayed on the little screen, "Ah. Uzumaki-san. I've been waiting to talk to you personally for a very long time. Karasuba assured me that she would be able to uh… _persuade _you to join us for dinner but I wanted to extend this invitation to you in person so to speak…. Though I must say, I've never seen an accessory like that. **Nose balls…. So cool**!"

"And if I refuse?" Naruto questioned with a smile as he ignored the man's ranting.

"Well." The man in the phone chuckled softly as he calmed down, "Let's just say things will become rather unpleasant."

"I see…." The blonde rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, "Tell me. Do you have a mirror with you?"

Unaware that practically everyone watching had their eyebrow raised, Minaka followed suit, "Yes…?"

"Could you turn to face it?"

"Uhm… okay?"

"Now turn around so that your back is to it."

By then, those who had experience with the blonde already knew that Minaka was currently being screwed with.

"I don't understand…."

Naruto hushed him firmly before continuing in a sincere, unassuming tone, "Now bend over so that you can see the mirror from between your legs."

The sounds of cloth rustling from the phone proved that Minaka was indeed listening to Naruto.

"Good. Now, I understand that you're burdened by nothing but good intentions and an inconveniently large ego but you see that little orifice over there? Feel free to shove your invitation in there." The blonde smiled politely with one last nod and snapped the phone shut before promptly crushing it into dust with his bare fist.

The blonde casually dusted the remnants of the phone into a dustbin, ignoring the roomful of dropped jaws, before casually addressing an amused looking Sekirei, "Well now, Karasuba-san. You were saying something about a visit."

"Honestly? When I heard you winged #7, I thought you were an interesting person. Now I _know _you're a very interesting person." the fourth Sekirei sighed theatrically, "Unfortunately, no matter how much I like you, I'll just have to take you by force. I'm sure Minaka won't mind if you and your Sekirei are missing a limb or two."

"Even here? Where my Sekirei will defend me from you? Where the Hannya will respond with equal force?"

Kaho nudged her Ashikabi nervously, "Master…. I understand that you have this deep seated need to play with people's minds, but I don't think goading her is a very good idea."

"Eeeh?" The blonde replied an innocently confused expression, "but that anguished expression on her face, and that vein twitching in her forehead is sooo unbearably cute …"

That was arguably the last straw.

No one called her _cute_.

"I can't really hurt you, but he never said anything about hurting your LITTLE ONES!"

It happened too fast for any of them to truly understand.

All everyone knew was that the two of them were seating on opposite sides of the room when they both simply disappeared.

Two fingers firmly snapped shut, stopping the quivering tip of the nodachi one inch away from skewering Akitsu through the abdomen. Blue irises narrowed until they were mere slits of cold ice and the blonde flowed, palming the surprised Karasuba's face and throwing her straight through the wall without missing a beat.

Humming a strange, vicious tune to himself, he absentmindedly released his hold on Miya's arm which had stopped the scowling woman from pulling out her Katana, "She tried to harm Akitsu. This is my fight."

Miya glared at him, but refused to let go of the Katana's hilt.

"Please?" The man said softly with a hint of steel in his question.

Heaving a quiet sigh, she released her white knuckled grip on the katana.

"Naruto-sama, let us fight." Akitsu murmured softly.

"Not this time. I think…. It's about time you learned something about me."

Although the blonde's unhurried pace seemed to imply that he didn't care as he walked over to the large maple tree that dominated his yard to reach up and pluck a young twig from a branch, the ferocious, stone cold fury in his eyes instilled a primal, uncomprehending fear in any mortal around him as long dead instincts instantly kicked into high gear.

Just as placidly, the blonde man in the blue and white kimono held it up between his thumb and forefinger like a rapier at the black clothed woman who was slowly getting up with a wide grin on her face.

"Are….. Are you joking? Facing me, someone like me with that **twig**, it's obviously an INSULT!"

Naruto smiled sweetly, "Ah good. So you weren't stupid after all."

**Play Immediate Music – Sanctus Immortale**

Patience long since gone,, a blood thirsty smile was sketched on her lips as the black Sekirei roared and charged.

Disappearing in a burst of a speed that would almost certainly have caught anyone outside the First Ten off guard, the nodachi in her one handed grip flashed up and down in a cross wise cut that would have literally disarmed the man and his insulting twig.

No one human or Sekirei could stand against her, but this person did. Fully expecting her blade to slice his arms in half, along with his insolent twig, she was completely thrown off balance when then the blonde deflected her overhead cleave and upwards slash with a strange spinning motion of his twig, causing it to spin almost like a drill, throwing her aim utterly off before smartly tapping the blade on several spots along its length.

Despite his carefree smile, she could see him staring at her with barely masked deadly intent in his eyes.

Almost disbelievingly, Karasuba swung her blade around with the momentum of the missed attack. The blonde simply bent backwards, almost ninety degrees to the ground and tapped the overextended blade with a lazy, almost throwaway gesture. Seeing the man bent over backwards and obviously vulnerable, Karasuba shifted her nodachi into a downwards thrust that was instantly deflected despite the fact that there was no conceivable way the blonde could see it coming.

Panting, Karasuba pulled her blade which had been embedded into the ground and leapt back to get some space between the serene looking blonde and his twig. "That was a mistake. I must really be out of practice." She muttered herself with a strained and uncertain laugh before the man himself suddenly appeared right in her face with a mocking grin.

Her sharply honed and trained instincts didn't even have time to kick in before the blonde **slapped** her with a casual flick of the hand.

Eyes wide with shock, the woman dressed in black instantly rolled away from him before suddenly darting forward again, low to the ground and thrust her nodachi upwards so fast that she could hear the wind cry in pain, intent on impaling the insolent man through the diaphragm. In the time it took for her blade to reach his lower chest, the man seemed to blur.

Her sword cut through empty air, just barely scratching the stubble on his chin as he slid his twig along the length of her blade once more and her aim instantly went awry, her blade flashed around him several times, all which were evaded with almost abnormal reflexes until he ran the twig along the back of nodachi and slammed it into the ground.

Grunting, Karasuba tried to pry her blade free, but the stupid twig pushed it deeper onto the ground as if someone had taken a hammer to it while the blonde stood back up and rubbed the contours of his squeaky clean chin with a smirk.

"Thanks. I forgot to shave this morning." He commented with a thumbs-up.

Then just because he could, he slapped her other cheek.

Despite his carefree smile an laid back manner of speaking, that burning stare never went away. No matter how far he bent, those chips of ice stayed on her with unnerving calm, observing her calculatedly,

Stumbling away from the politely smiling man, MBI's dog drew a gasp from the spectators as she shifted into an actual stance and held her nodachi in a shaky two handed grip, a huge difference from the normally careless one handed way she used held it with.

One downward glance told her that all the skin on her right palm had been_ flayed_ away by the vibrations running along the length of her blade, multiplying each time the twig hit her blade, made it ridiculously hard for her to even hold on to the slippery handle of her nodachi.

This just made her even angrier, and arguably, even stronger, as she began attacking the man with a rapid flurry of strikes.

The man navigated waved his** twig **through the patterns of her blade, and stabbed the twig directly into her left shoulder easily, as if she had been standing still and waiting for it.

Hissing lightly, Karasuba leapt back and glanced at the bleeding wound of her disabled shoulder. Now, with both arms swinging limply, simply holding her nodachi up suddenly felt like an extreme burden.

Losing all semblance of reason, the Black Sekirei ignored her wounds and poured on the speed, growling like a feral animal, she disappeared from sight, the only sign of her presence was the rapid tapping of her footsteps as she danced around the yard at speeds beyond human, fully intent on carving the lackadaisical blonde into sashimi.

Most people would have been cut in half by the first pass.

His only response at the suddenly increase in speed and ferocity was to quirk one eyebrow and smile whimsically as he repelled her with thrusts of his **twig**. Karasuba actually began to sweat as one crystal blue eye maintained its unflinching, almost condescending, stare on her despite her speed.

Taking her apart, bit by bit, rendering her completely useless.

Physically.

Then he started going for her mind.

"_Does it feel good? Knowing that you're outmatched. That someone stronger than you exists? Cutting you down the way you cut down your sisters?" _The blonde's chillingly flat words reached her ears, as if carried by the wind, particularly strange since she knew his mouth was not moving at all, "_How does it feel now that you feel their pain? The grudge and malice born from despair? Despair that they can't resist you simply because of your innate talent? Despair that you snuffed out their chance to love because you were irritated?"_

"Ah. It feels wonderful, my blood is boiling, SCREAMING in excitement that there's someone as interesting as you alive." Karasuba yelled back with a vicious smile, much to the onlooker's confusion since she seemed to be talking to herself. An overhead cleave was directed to the ground, her blade digging deep into the ground when the blonde's twig dug itself and twisted in her gut.

Unleashing a feral growl, the Black Sekirei clawed at the blonde with her free hand, pushing him back as the pressure from that single blue eye seemed to triple.

"_Really?" _The silent voice asked with an almost playful yet probing lilt, _"I'm glad you enjoy it, it must feel wonderful, making everybody else suffer the same pain as you did when you lost your other half." _

Karasuba instantly went whiter than chalk as she stumbled a little, "How?"

"_It wasn't that hard to notice that most Sekirei came in pairs or even groups, Karasuba-chan."_ The blonde viciously probed even further with a playful tone, _"It was fairly obvious that the Dark Sekirei was a pair with the Light Sekirei, even amongst the first Nine. You must want to meet her soon don't you? Doing everything you can to end the game as soon as possible, causing as much pain to the humans, those who took her away from you, as much as possible just so you can see the loving look on her face as she greets you again."_

By now, the grey haired woman had begun to slow down noticeably as the blonde man playfully slashed at her with his twig, purposely restricting himself to minor yet debilitating wounds with an almost polite leer.

Panting heavily, Karasuba screamed madly and began to lash out wildly, losing all sense of coherence whatsoever. The figure that was in the middle of the black onslaught simply stood firm, weaving a defensive pattern around himself with his spinning **twig**, even as that one blue eye stared at her unrelentingly, taunting her inability to overcome him, _"Guess what? You won't get to see it. All you're going to see is her disgusted face, her anger, her grudge when she realizes that you're spitting on everything she once held important." _

The** twig** wove its way through her almost panicked defences with unnatural ease, his thrusts and cuts were sharp beyond belief while that hateful blue eye observed her with a condescending air of disdain as he opened yet another wound on her back easily, _"You can see it even now can't you? Every time you sleep." _

The blonde began giggling disturbingly as he spoke out loud for the first time since the fight began, _"You let her die. Deep down inside, you know it was ALL your fault, that's why you kill your sisters, that's why you unleashed your grudge and malice on them. Because it's only human to do so, and HUMANS killed YUME. __**YOU **__KILLED YUME." _

Something in Karasuba snapped horrifically.

The pain from her raw palms, the increasing collection of slashes and the hole in her shoulder vanished under the red haze as Karasuba raged, "**THAT. IS. ENOUGH!"**

To hell with Minaka's crazy rules, she would not, could not abide by being toyed around with this stranger.

Propelling herself into the sky with a powerful jump, she re-sheathed her blade and screamed at the wide eyed landlady who recognized the pose, **"MIYA, THIS IS FOR YOU!" **

With a bloodthirsty smile, she unleashed a massive wave of destructive energy at the puny speck of a blonde on the ground.

Naruto frowned at the warship sized blade of almost visible energy even as the purple haired landlady made an attempt to counter the wave that would almost certainly destroy anything within a kilometre if it wasn't stopped when a heavily sweating Akitsu pulled her down with a firm grip.

"What are you doing?!" she protested loudly, only for Akitsu to mutely point at her Ashikabi who seemed to be squinting up at the wave, as if looking for something within the storm of roiling energy.

Just before the wave could turn everything around the blonde and everything around him into dust and ground beef with its impact, the blonde pierced the apex of the crescent wave with his twig and twisted it like a key.

The crescent blade of energy instantly dissipated into a powerful gust that washed down on the nearly panicking group of watchers, blowing up kimonos and skirts, much to Naruto's silent amusement.

Even in the midst of battle with a crazed woman wielding massively destructive skills, the blonde never lost sight of his true objectives.

Karasuba landed shortly after, hair askew and eyes dilated with madness and disbelief, **"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"**

Naruto tore himself away from the revealed skin to smile briefly at the salivating woman, "You know…. I asked myself that very same question a thousand times." He disappeared with a brief flicker of colours, prompting the Black Sekirei to instinctively whirl around when she felt a chill run down her back.

She swung her blade reflexively and was gratified to feel her blade finally bite into solid flesh, along with the orgasmic spray of blood.

Breathing heavily she tried to tug it out of the corpse, only to realize that her nodachi refused to budge.

"I haven't found the answer yet." The monster that had her sword impaled through one eye, leaving the other blue one to stare at her through a veil of dripping blood, murmured quietly as he took one step forward.

The blade dug deeper into his skull with an eerie crunch.

To absolutely no effect whatsoever.

"**JAAKI NO GEKIJOU!" **Naruto let loose a raging roar and a wide blue orb of energy pulsed over the field, washing over everybody.

"**Do you have the answer**?" The man who had his brain cleaved in half urged with an utterly crazed grin that twisted his formerly serene expression grotesquely as blood and slobber splattered on her face.

Everybody watching them felt an unsettling void gnaw at their very minds as an almost palpable cloud of insanity and malice radiated from the blonde.

Karasuba's legs began shaking as an alien feeling flooded her body. Sort of like how the bottom of her stomach had dropped out, leaving a vacuum in its place as the blonde advanced on her, each step driving the cold steel deeper and deeper into his skull with no effect whatsoever despite the amount of blood pouring from his wound.

"**DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER?!"** the black Sekirei felt her legs finally give way under the roar and she was blown away by a point blank sound wave to the face.

The grotesque madness abruptly disappeared as Karasuba hit a concrete wall with a wet crack before going limp.

The stark difference between the oppressively insane atmosphere and the a peaceful, normal evening as a gentle breeze rustled leaves was almost as jarring as the blonde's serene façade as he casually detached the blade from his face with a squelch, a wrench of steel and a spray of blood.

Naruto smiled vaguely as he casually wiped the blood away to reveal a perfectly functioning and uninjured eye, "I guess you don't."

Humming a cheery tune to himself, the blonde casually strode over to the wall with a broken and unconscious Karasuba embedded in it and pulled her out with a shower of plaster, mortar and cement before entering the Inn with a spring in his step and a limp Karasuba slung over his shoulder.

**Play Ayumi Hamasaki – Part Of Me **

The landlady quietly sighed as she sat in the darkened reception room all by herself, feeling strangely detached from everything, mostly because her thoughts were in a complete and jumbled mess.

It seemed like a day never passed without the urge to break his hated half smiles with her fists and blacken that mysterious glint in his eyes as he seemed to look through her like she was naked.

At first, she had simply put his strange set of abilities down to him having more Sekirei blood than the average Ashikabi. But then he had displayed several abilities, abilities so far beyond any single Sekirei; abilities like enhanced physical prowess and complete immunity to fire, that Miya felt she was justified in saying that he so far past humanity that it wasn't funny.

As time passed and she observed the blonde reveal more and more inhuman traits, and at the same time, the blonde seemed to enjoy the little game of hide and seek that they played. He would show off a new ability to someone, like Musubi, Kusano or Kagari, in such a way that ensured everyone had a piece of the jigsaw, but no one had the **whole picture.**

Then he would look around for her presence, seemingly drawing some twisted sense of achievement every time he found her latest attempt to gain information on him. And every time he found her, he would merely look at her with a strange glint in his eyes.

It came to a point where she began to suspect that the blonde was a perfected version of whatever Takehito had been doing to Seo; the ultimate Ashikabi. Unfortunately, this was disproven by the troublesome blonde himself since he had left New Tokyo long before either Seo or Takehito had even known about Sekireis and hadn't come back till three months ago.

She had no reason to believe he was lying.

Either that or the blonde was the type of person who did nothing with his life but fuck with people until it was practically an art form.

Oh wait….

At any rate, Uzumaki-san had literally walked into the Sekirei Plan without realizing it, and then for all intents and purposes, decided to stay when he realized it was more interesting than whatever his original goal was before finally ending up in Maison Izumo where he had made it very clear that he was content on watching the world go to hell with a smirk.

Then something changed. After winging Kaho and Akitsu, the blonde suddenly seemed to take a larger role in the game, a vested interest in seeing the two of them happy. If nothing else, no matter how twisted the man was, Miya believed that he truly cared about Akitsu and Kaho.

Something he proceeded to prove by basically booting Number 4 all over Izumo's garden with a goddamned twig.

Miya found herself half wanting to forget it ever happened so that she could go back to her normal, dreary lifestyle, sort of like how she wanted to forget that one time she had seen Takami bend Minaka over and wipe his ass with sandpaper.

She wanted to forget her frustrating, exasperating blonde tenant, who happened to have an overly healthy admiration for the female flesh, ever existed.

That conniving and annoying bastard that took far too much enjoyment in riling her up, taking pleasure in seeing her face light up as her cheeks flushed, as if he knew that her heart skipped a beat everytime he gave her that lop sided smile; as if to say that he had just proved that Asama Miya wasn't just another supporting character in a love drama whose only function was to provide suspiciously implied lines with a self-satisfied look on her face.

That she had emotions and flaws too.

That despite being extra-terrestrials, Sekireis deserved to have feelings and motives too.

She found herself a little moved, and more than a little annoyed at herself for being moved.

Thankfully, before Miya could start punishing herself, someone called out to her, jerking her out of her thoughts.

"Mi-Miya?! What happened?" A black haired woman dressed in a purple one piece dress called out anxiously as she gently landed in the middle of the ruined garden with a flurry of wind. Whipping back her long black hair, Kazehana grasped her old friend's shoulders with worry to see if she was alright, "I felt something really powerful coming from here and came as soon as I could. Was something wrong?"

Miya stared at the woman in something akin to stunned silence before shaking her head slowly, "I'm…. alright, I wasn't the one fighting."

The raven haired woman sighed in relief before pouting at her old friend, "I came here in such a hurry that I even forgot to take my sake with me."

"I'm surprised. I always thought I was ranked below your sake." Miya dryly replied with a small half smile.

"It depends on what sake we're talking about, so don't get ahead of yourself." Kazehana retorted with a wink before something seemed to dawn on the skimpily dressed woman. Blinking slowly, she squinted at the lavender haired woman, "Wait. You weren't the one fighting? Then who? I don't think anyone else had that much power."

"A very annoying person." Miya noted blandly.

"Karasuba?"

"Even** more** annoying." She muttered to Kazehana's wide eyed interest before cocking her head as if listening to something, "Speaking of which… Good luck. You're about to meet the idiot. Try not to die."

The sound of footsteps climbing down the stair case reached the two of them, "Miya, do you have any cloth you don't need? I accidentally hit her a little too hard and her right arm sort of got bent the wrong way when she hit that wall. I really rather she not get deactivated before I put her brains back together." The person entered the reception hall before squinting at the wide eyed stranger standing beside his landlady.

"Who's the old hag?"

Kazehana snapped.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Author's Note **

Jaaki no Gekijou – **Theater of the Damned**


	11. A Tale of Two Crazies

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 11**

**A Tale of Two Crazies**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

I'm fairly sure that most of you can tell that Kur0 has not…. Regained her confidence yet.

At least not entirely.

**Soundtrack List**

Kana Ueda – Snow Rain – Holy Night Ver –

Asian Kung Fu Generation – Haruka Kanata

Egoist – All Alone With You

******Unwavering Sky******

A fifteen year old boy looked up from his manga as the sound of the doorbell chiming rang throughout the old house. Sparing the two other only residents of the house a brief glance, he sighed in resignation. While things had never been what anyone would call extravagant, life with the blonde man they called father had been strict but comfortable.

Not once did he lay his hands on them in punishment although they got the occasional pat and awkward hug. He taught them through actions, to be upright, responsible men who lived with a clear conscience and above all know when to apologize and when to stand tall.

Therein lay the problem.

Neither of them thought they were wrong, and the two hard headed males had refused to speak to each other beyond rare curt sentences even though it had been nearly a year since then.

He let out another sigh of resignation since the first one failed to garner any response, "I'll get it."

You knew things were bad if the resident troublemaker was the only one keeping the house from tearing apart.

The man with blonde hair streaked through with grey strands sitting in a corner of the house while he poked at the guts of a clock he was fixing simply grunted while Takehito who sat as far as away from the old man only waved at him in acknowledgement, too busy with his homework to even look up.

Kaoru's feet padded on the wooden floor as he made his way to the door with a bored expression before slipping them into a pair of slippers. Grasping the door knob, he opened the door, "Uzumaki residence, is there anything we can help you with?" He droned lazily before squinting.

The tall man, who looked like a well-dressed executive officer of a big company, smiled faintly as Kaoru squinted at him. For some reason, the sandy haired man's outline kept slipping in and out of focus as a thin cold mist seemed to waft around him, "Is Naruto Uzumaki-san home?"

Kaoru cocked his head and kept his narrowed eyes on the man and his unusually friendly smile, "Tou-san! Someone's looking for you!"

"Oooh." He heard the old man call back in reply, getting up and shuffling through the hall ways as Kaoru carefully made himself as inconspicuous as possible under the stairs.

"Oh, it's you." The old blonde said with a distasteful grimace, "I thought we had an agreement that you would leave me alone, Jikokuten." Naruto poked his head out of the door way and looked around suspiciously before regarding the grinning man with a look, "At least you were smart enough to leave your brothers at home."

"Bishamonten would be very upset if he heard that." The sandy haired man's lips curled slightly making his thin friendly smile take on a distinctly sly look, "He adores you. Besides, our mutual friend said that she would leave this one to you and neither I nor my brothers can interfere directly."

The scarred man grunted with a grimace at the thought of being adored by that particular person, "She's just lazy isn't she?"

"Who knows?" The visitor shrugged casually, "Mere men like us are not meant to know how she works after all, simply worship her beauty before it finally fades."

Silence reigned as Kaoru saw the blonde man stunned speechless for the first time in his life while the sandy haired man only looked even more amused.

After a while, Naruto finally inhaled after what seemed like hours to the 15 year old under the stairs, "So it is time." He drew another resigned breath and let it out with a gusty sigh, "Very well. Give me some time to get ready."

Hearing the blonde's words, Kaoru hurriedly slipped out of his little crook under the stairs and darted into the living room where he slid the last few yards, much to Takehito's confused consternation. The bare dark haired boy had barely managed to bury his face in his manga again when the paper screen slid back, "Boys, I'm going out for a while and I left some money for dinner on the counter. Keep everything locked up if you're going out." He said distractedly.

"Going where?" Kaoru piped up, making sure not to sound too curious while Takehito barely acknowledged the man.

"Just some business." The blonde replied vaguely, "I won't be back till tomorrow at earliest."

"Ah…. Take care then."

Naruto nodded one final time and left in something of a hurry.

The moment they heard the man's footsteps recede out of hearing, Kaoru practically leapt upwards again and grabbed Takehito, "Come on. We're going out."

"What?! Where?" his friend immediately jerked his arm out of Kaoru's grip with a sinking feeling, "This is another one of your harebrained scheme's to get us talking again isn't it?"

"I don't care if your still butt hurt over that, don't you want to find out what he does?" Kaoru hissed quietly with a noticeably excited flush in his cheeks, "We've never seen him go to work and no one's even been here looking for him before. This is the first time we've seen him go outside of his schedule."

"True…" Takehito doubtfully muttered at which point Kaoru grinned brightly, knowing that he had managed to hook the inquisitive boy, "I've been rather curious about that myself. We've seen him writing books but nothing else, he can't really be getting that much from those idiot porn mags."

"It might even have something to do with why he's always not around every Sunday." Kaoru whispered excitably as he sweetened the pot.

"Technically, we **did **follow him that Sunday." The light haired boy noted with a detached tone, "All he did was go to that park and sit there on a bench and feed cats with a half assed expression the entire day."

Kaoru rolled his eyes, "Look, all I need you to do is follow me and watch my back so we don't get caught."

The temptation of finding out more information about their enigmatic father ultimately proved too sweet a lure and Takehito smiled hesitantly, "Just for a while alright?"

They both perked up as the sound of a car revving up sounded outside, "Oh damn!" Kaoru cursed under his breath, "Come on, grab the money while I get my scooter ready."

Nearly half an hour later of frantic driving and swerving behind their father's gun metal grey station wagon until they arrived near an abandoned shopping complex outside Setagaya-ku, Kaoru breathed heavily and dismounted from his scooter, feeling strangely exhilarated by the chase and the possibility of learning something about the strange man they called father.

A little behind he, Takehito was dry heaving into the bushes in which they had hidden the scooter. Wiping away the drool from his lips, he gave the dark haired boy beside him a half-hearted glare, "I'm surprised we made it here alive."

"Someone like you who failed his exams three times in a row probably won't understand my exquisitely perfect driving." Kaoru shot back smugly.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to LIVE long enough to have children but your exquisitely perfect driving didn't exactly dodge a goddamned truck now did it?" The silver haired boy replied through gritted teeth.

"Alright, alright," Kaoru waved his argument away with a roll of his eyes, "You can drive home _after _we find out what Tou-san is doing in this godforsaken place."

"Shhh!" Takehito hushed his friend as they crouched behind the bush and slowly crept around the walls, "Something's wrong. Did you see him getting in the car with that strange man?"

"Well yeah, we saw them talking while we followed them didn't we?"

"Well he's not here anymore." Takehito jerked his head in the direction of the station wagon as Naruto got out of the car, "He's alone. The other guy isn't in the car anymore."

"What the heck?" Kaoru muttered in a mystified tone, "How did he get off if the car didn't stop from the house until here?"

"Maybe we should stop here; something seriously feels wrong with all this." Takehito kept his eyes resolutely on the tall man. Despite his apparent age, Naruto stood upright with a pose straighter and more confident than people half his age, right outside the main entrance, his hands shoved in his pockets. Sighing once, he wrapped his long coat around him tighter and stepped inside the abandoned shopping complex.

"We're already here, turning back would be pointless," Kaoru pointed out snidely and snuck into a side entrance before his friend could persuade him otherwise.

Once inside, their breaths hitched as an unnatural coldness flooded the dark, damp corridor. Soft gray eyes squinted through the gloom as Takehito quietly trailed after a silent Kaoru while he rubbed his arms to generate some heat.

"It almost feels like something is going to jump out on us, doesn't it?" He heard Kaoru mutter jokingly.

"Don't mess about stuff like that," His eyes flickered around the narrow corridor nervously, "Something is seriously wrong here. It's the middle of summer but it's like winter in here."

"Something must be wrong with the air conditioning," Kaoru reasoned in a whisper, "That's why no one's here. They're closed while it's being fixed…."

Takehito's eyes flicked in Kaoru's direction as the boy trailed away into silence, compounding his nervousness, "What's wrong? Why aren't you talking anymore?"

"Nii-san…. Where am I?" a whispery voice asked from beyond the darkness. Both 15 year old boys stopped with a solid lump of something cold stuck in their throat, "Wh-who's there?!"

Takehito elbowed the boy beside him with a little more force than usual as the boy's shouted out loudly, almost too loudly.

**Play Kana Ueda – Snow Rain – Holy Night Ver – **

A small, scared looking girl hesitantly stepped out of the darkness. Her wide, baby brown eyes were watery as she clung to the wall, "Ni-Nii san? Are you my Nii-san?"

The two of them shared a scared look, "What's a small girl doing in here?" Takehito whispered urgently.

"How would I know?!" Kaoru protested with a loud voice that caused his friend to wince again.

"Fine, fine," The grey haired boy slowly knelt with a smile that was as friendly as possible, "Hey," He said softly, "What are you doing in here? Are you lost?"

The small girl hesitantly nodded and edged closer towards Takehito's offered hand, "I don't know how I got in here…." She whimpered in a small voice.

"Look, the exit is just behind…." Takehito trailed away as the two boy's looked behind them only for Kaoru to gasp loudly. The corridor behind them had disappeared, replaced by an intimidatingly blank concrete wall.

Blinking as the dark haired boy began making sure that they weren't hallucinating, Takehito turned back to the small child who looked even more scared now and smiled with a confidence that he didn't feel, "It's alright. We'll find a way out with you. Don't worry."

Large fluid brown eyes peered up at him with a desperate glimmer as she finally took the offered hand, "Arigato…. Nii-san."

Leaning back, he nudged a scowling Kaoru who was still systematically searching for a hidden button or crevice on the concrete wall that might have granted them exit, "Anything?"

"No good. It's like this thing was here the entire thing. I don't know what sort of trick is this, but when I find out, you can be sure he's not going to like what I'm going to do to him."

"You think, this girl got lost the same way we did?"

"She has to be. Probably some kid from the neighbourhood that didn't know this place was closed for repairs and wandered in," Kaoru gave the small shivering girl a measuring look before he shrugged off his jacket and gently draped it on her shoulders with a friendly smile, "What's your name, kid?"

The little girl shrank away from the much taller and much more boisterous Nii-san and hid behind Takehito's, "Kaoru-chan…."

The dark haired boy grinned widely at the girl clutching Takehito's pants, "That's a good name. My name is Kaoru too you know, it's a big and strong name."

The small girl nodded with a weak smile as the three of them slowly made their way through the disturbingly long corridor hand in hand, the small girl in between them until they came to the other end of the unerringly straight path.

"You open it." Takehito gave Kaoru a kick and a look as he tried to shield the little girl with his body.

"Open it?" The more athletic of the two boys shook his head frantically, "I've seen this movie. The first person that opens the door always dies first. YOU open it."

Takehito sighed and rubbed his temples, "Fine, then you get to take care of her." Leaving the small girl clad in a tiny white sundress with Kaoru, Takehito gingerly placed his hand on the iron bar and pushed.

His eyes widened in surprise as the door swung open with barely any sound despite the fact that he could see the door was rusted and pitted with age. Tip toeing forward, Takehito carefully glanced through the opening with as much courage and beckoned for the small girl and Kaoru to follow him.

"It's a… balcony of some sort." Kaoru muttered as he peered over the stainless steel railing before he ducked back, his face deathly pale.

"What?" Takehito immediately asked anxiously, "What did you see?"

"Well… I saw Tou-san for one. He was talking to another girl."

Takehito wrinkled his nose, "You mean we followed him to this god forsaken place just to catch him having another one of his affairs?"

"Uh…. I don't think so." The dark haired boy made a face and gestured at the curious girl peeking at the blonde standing on the floor below them chatting with another tiny girl that was almost identical to her, "She looked like she was Kaoru-chan's age for one. That… and she didn't have legs."

Both of glanced at the chirping little girl as she smiled at them cutely.

Takehito grunted, "Let's get closer and see if we can hear what they're saying. He can't be here just to talk to some random little girl." Glancing around, Takehito immediately took stock of their position and jerked his head at what looked like an escalator that led down directly behind the distracted blonde, "If we're quiet, he shouldn't notice."

"Fair enough." Gently holding Kaoru-chan by the wrist, the three of them began inching towards the escalator, "Since we're already this far, we might as well go all out."

The small girl simply smiled brightly, all her fear seemingly forgotten in favour of exploring what looked like a new playground with her two new friends while the indistinct sounds of the blonde man's mumbling barely reached their ears.

"What is he saying?" Kaoru muttered when they had gotten close enough to hunker down behind a banister directly behind and above the mumbling blonde.

"I'm… not sure." Takehito replied slowly as he kept one ear straining to hear the blonde, "It almost sounds like it's a prayer..."

"You mean he's a monk?"

"With all the women that come to the house?" Stormy grey eyes glinted with amusement as he snorted, "Yeah, right. Besides, why pray in a place like this?"

"Let's get closer." Kaoru whispered back, clearly unconvinced.

It happened before either of them realized it.

The moment they reached the landing, the little girl between them immediately began struggling frantically as the two boys did their best to stop her from making any noise when Kaoru yelped loudly as the small girl kicked him in the shins.

As Kaoru was sent to his knees with a hiss, the little girl raced towards the man and her identical twin with a loud and happy cry that caused both of them to immediately look at the source of the noise.

The blonde's startling blue eyes widened in horror as he immediately noticed the two boys standing helplessly at the base of the stairs while the little girl darted towards the one behind him. That's when all hell broke loose as the walls and floors began shaking with an unearthly moan while the girl behind him began to hiss and wail, her face deforming into one of hunger and terror as her pale waxy skin stretched over her gaping maw before a pulse of energy sent him flying into the opposite side of the platform.

Cursing himself for letting his guard down and not realizing that he had been followed, he rapidly formed several hand signs before awkwardly landing and slamming his palm into the ground without missing a beat as the not so little girl broke free of her binds and practically flew towards the two wide eyed boys, "Shugo Hakke; Daiheki!"

A blue wave of solid energy erupted from the ground just in time to stop the moaning ghoul from taking a mammoth sized bite out of a terrified Kaoru. The 15 year old could do nothing but watch as the grotesquely large jaw slobbered on the wall of blue energy before it promptly changed direction and hurtled towards a defenceless Takehito with a soul wrenching scream.

Grey eyes uncomprehendingly peered into the depths of the… _thing's _over extended jaws as it slowly closed in on him, as if in slow motion. His body refused to move, refused to listen to his orders even though his mind was racing, thinking up alternatives and the occasional random comment about oral hygiene.

Then the mouth snapped shut and blood splashed all over the grey haired boy, staining his silver hair with deep red as a blonde man towered over him protectively, the _thing _caught in his steel embrace.

He breathed deeply and watched disbelievingly as that _thing_ tore at his protector's entire left arm like a hunk of meat. Even more unbelievable was the man's utterly calm face as he kept it in his one armed embrace, "Land Deity. Will you help me? I cannot control her rage now that she has seen my sons."

The little girl who had been with them up till now suddenly re-entered Takehito's mind. Up till now, she had been standing, unmoving whether through rage or fear, he did not know, but she stood there with a serene expression.

Wait, Land Deity?

The little girl, Kaoru-chan, began floating right in full view of the two speechless boys as an ethereal mist swirled around her. Her little arms wrapped around the screaming _thing _even as it desperately struggled to escape from Naruto's grip, it's long, ragged nails were tearing deep furrows in the man's back while it's jaws snapped open and shut like a mouse trap, gnashing and gnawing on the messy hunk of flesh that used to be an arm.

Despite that, the thing that two of them would forever remember was its horrifyingly empty, jet black eyes that stared at them hungrily.

As Naruto began whispering something, the little girl who was hugging the thing from behind began to sing.

**Those who live in the light and those who live in the dark, Bind!**

A stone pillar burst from the ground as chains made of a transparent blue shot out and wrapped around the three of them as Naruto's voice got louder and louder with every one handed seal he made until his roar echoed around the shopping complex.

**They who dwell in water with shining scales, Bind!**

**They who soar in the sky on proud pinions, Bind!**

**O'Gods that come from within, Bind!**

**Those who dwell on blessed land with determination and finally he who embraces all, Bind! **

With each thundering invocation, a pillar of stone would rise from the shaking and trembling ground in the shape of a perfect pentagon. Each pillar was alight with an unearthly light that bound the screeching _thing _with chains of light, until it could barely budge in the middle of the stone pentagon.

The blonde made a hand seal with his free hand as his voice slowly rose with a strange choral quality as it was imbued with power, **"Honor this prayer, tear apart your earthly binds and come forth. Watch, guide, purify."**

Sighing, he stepped back from the two little girls and smiled faintly as he ran one bloody hand through his hair. The two twins waved, cheerfully, gratefully as their cute little white sundresses fluttered in a non-existent wind.

The one thing both of them could not help but notice as the unearthly glow that seemed like it was coming from within the Earth itself slowly faded away was that her eyes weren't black anymore.

"Wha-WHAT WAS THAT?!" Kaoru exclaimed with wide, terrified eyes.

"A simple purification." The weary man replied as he slid down his back with a sigh while his arm began steaming, "Or at least, it should have been one."

The two of them looked away at the flash of disappointment in his startling blue eyes.

The sight of his arm…. Reforming…. didn't help any.

"The younger sister was kidnapped by a madman that wanted to play with a hostage." The bleeding man began quietly, "He led her family, her parents and her older twin on a goose chase in this very complex before killing her in front of her family. Her soul remained here, confused and angry, wondering why it was only her that had to suffer, slowly gathering strength until it had enough to prey on other children. That was why she reacted like that the moment she saw you two. Ironically, the older twin became a Land Deity, determined to guard this place and make sure her little sister never went too far."

He paused for a long moment, "Normally, my… friend would be one to do this. Her methods usually involve helping the ghost understand its pain and helping it ascend…. My methods are a little more… direct."

"Wa-wait!" the dark haired boy spluttered, "Are you seriously telling us that was a ghost? Like a dead spirit ghost? And Kaoru-chan was a Land Deity!? She was just a little girl!"

"There are very few things more deadly or powerful than a child's innocent desire, even if that desire becomes an unconscious malice or an unwavering determination." Naruto replied succinctly as he stood up again with a frown, "**Now, what are you two doing here**?"

The two of them wilted even further as they heard anger in his voice for the first time ever.

Once they had explained the situation with all the guilt evident on their faces, the blonde sighed heavily and placed one hand on their heads to ruffle their hair affectionately, "I'm sorry. I should have been more careful…. Not even I can keep alert and looking over my shoulder without pause."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Takehito murmured with a slight hint of resentment, prompting Kaoru to elbow him non too gently, "That's enough, Takehito!"

"It's our fault! We…" Kaoru tried to say something else but before he knew it, his eyes were closing, "T-Tou-san? What's happening?"

"I didn't tell you because I am not allowed to let either of you remember this." The tall man spoke with heavy regret and longing that tinged his tone, "It would have been…. nice to speak with the two of you freely."

*******Unwavering Sky******

Blue eyes stopped contemplating the depths of his sake saucer as the paper screen opened with a quiet slide to admit a sleepy looking Takehito.

"Morning." The scarred blonde mumbled gruffly, "You and Kaoru fainted yesterday because of some strange epidemic. I had to come home early and take care of you two rascals."

Silvery grey eyes looked up at the short sentence, "Where is Kaoru?"

"Hmm? I called the school and told them the two of you weren't feeling well." Naruto smiled wanly, "You can imagine how happy that made him. Last I saw, he was running out to buy something or other."

"I see…" the boy quietly sat down on the other side of them room and stared at the old man.

Feeling the weight of the boy's stare on him, Naruto finally relented and glanced at Takehito, "What is it?" He asked in an irritable manner.

"Tou-san… No… Uzumaki-san, you are not human are you? A ghost? Or some sort of deity like that young girl?"

The distasteful way he seemed to treat people, his arrogance and detachment from normal society, his strange abilities. It suddenly made sense to the grey haired boy.

The tall blonde's eyes widened a fraction as they shot up at his words, "How?" Takehito saw his mouth form the words silently.

Takehito simply shrugged, "It's fuzzy. But i can still remember everything as clear as day."

Then he sighed once and ran his fingers through his grey hair tiredly.

Takehito's dark grey eyes widened imperceptibly as they regained a vibrant sunshine lustre and his adopted father's wrinkles melted away to reveal a man that was years younger than he was supposed to be, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you found me out, I just didn't expect you to be immune to memory spells as well. You always were a little too smart for your own good, though I would appreciate it if you didn't call me a deity." He smiled wryly, "I'm probably the farthest thing from divinity."

Takehito who was still staring at the man who looked like he was barely in his mid-twenties as opposed to his late forties almost didn't register the question or the chiding tone since his brain didn't want to cooperate.

The blonde smiled wanly, "Well, what will you do now? Will you tell everyone about me? Will you use me as an experiment?"

"….. Why would I do something like that?" The boy shouted with aghast, "You… You're my father. Even if you're an idiot…." He muttered softly.

The blonde's faint smile widened, "And I've never been prouder to call you my son."

The two of them sat there in a long silence until Takehito looked up again, giving his healthy looking arm a significant look, "Have you ever... died before?"

Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Once or twice, I think."

"You _think?_"

The blonde shrugged, "I can't really remember to be honest. It's a little fuzzy even for me. All I know is that I got hit by a bright light…. That was attached to a lot of metal…. When I woke up, I found myself in this crazy place filled with black fire and stunk like crazy while this big red dude with a lot of horns screamed at me for breaking so many rules. He kept screaming at me right up until I got bored, at which point I planted my foot up his ass and broke a couple of important looking things in the process. He was very polite after that, even offered to personally escort me out of there." The blonde man pouted childishly, "Just when I thought we were going to be friends, he told me never to come back before slamming this big ass door in my face." The blonde paused and scowled, "I still can't believe how rude he was."

"Only you Tou-san," The silver haired boy face palmed with a long suffering tone, "Only you can scare the Devil until he shat bricks and kicked you out of hell permanently."

"Language, Takehito." The tall man reprimanded him disapprovingly.

The boy rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry for being too shocked about my seemingly immortal father to mind my language." He deadpanned.

"Hnn... Nice to see you're smart mouth hasn't left you even though you're nearly as tall as me now." Naruto said softly, the top of Takehito's almost came up to his shoulders, "You were shorter than my knees back then though your tongue was no less sharp."

"Heh, did you think I'd stay short forever?"

Naruto chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair, "No, I guess you wouldn't…. You were bound to grow up after all."

"I… I just don't understand. You've always looked at us, at humans with eyes filled with disdain…" Takehito paused and stared at the blonde, desperately trying to understand him, "If you really had that much power and knowledge… why didn't you try to do something?"

As his eyes suddenly grew drowsy, Takehito realized that the blonde was making him fall asleep again. AGAIN!

"Wh-Why?"

The man only smiled sadly.

"I **did **try to do something. A long time ago when I still had faith." The man's gruff voice wafted around Takehito as his heavy eyelids implacably closed despite his titanic struggle to stay awake.

"_Even now, no one has created a hell deep enough to absolve me for what I have done…." _

That was the last thing Takehito remembered of the scarred man.

The next morning came like it always did and the grey haired boy woke up like clockwork.

Mechanically, he washed up before making a light breakfast and lunch boxes for himself and Kaoru, who had forgotten everything that had happened the night before.

Just like Naruto had said he would.

There was a tacit understanding between the two of them that the status quo had changed but neither voiced it. Maybe they were just in denial. They would go to school like always, and they would come back to find the crazy old man puffing away on his pipe.

Everything would be the way it was.

School floated by the subdued 15 year old in a blur of fleshy colours and before he knew it, his despondent feet had taken him back to the empty house in record time despite him making a conscious effort to walk as slow as possible.

"Huh? Why is it locked?" Kaoru muttered in confusion as he shook the door knob, "He never locks the door."

"Neh, Kaoru." The brown haired Seo blinked and turned around to see Takehito with his head hung over something he had picked up from the porch, the boy's grey bangs prevented him from seeing Takehito's face.

It was a small piece of paper wrapped around a key.

"What is it?" Kaoru asked uncertainly, Takehito had been in a strange and confusing mood the entire day.

"I was thinking we should renovate the place. Make it a little bigger."

"What for?"

"I dunno. Just open it I guess. Anybody who needs a place to stay can come here, sort of like a sanctuary." A transparent clear drop of liquid splashed on the paper, "The same way two lost kids were picked up so long ago."

"You want to tell me where you're going to get the money for that?"

Silently, he passed the piece of paper to Kaoru.

"We can even give this lousy old place a name."

"I see…." Kaoru smiled wryly and relaxed into the door as the two of them sat on the porch as the two of them indulged in the strange, sluggish atmosphere as the two of them implicitly accepted it, "What did you have in mind?"

"Dunno. Something meaningful."

"Like?"

"Izumo."

_The place where god descended. _

******Unwavering Sky******

"Higa." The tall man in the crisp suit called out as he entered his employer's office with long hurried strides, prompting the well dressed man sitting on the throne like chair behind his desk to look up from the daily stock exchange plastered to his computer screen with furrowed brows.

"You're supposed to knock on the door before you enter." The sandy haired man pointed out irritably.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait," Kakizaki countered smoothly, "Toyotama, Oshino and Kujou have returned with their reports."

This managed to cause the man in the navy blue suit to perk up noticeably, "And?" He prompted, "Do we have sufficient information to persuade Uzumaki-san to our cause?"

His old friend seemed to draw an uncertain breath, causing Higa to raise an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic action, before speaking, "We managed to find out where he lived."

"And...?" Higa asked scathingly as he began tapping the top of his varnished oak desk impatiently with one manicured finger, "Don't tell me that's ALL they managed to find out. They've been following him for three days now!"

"Well... we know that he likes shopping, and he likes drinking..." Kakizaki muttered in a tone that said he was completely aware of how utterly useless that information was.

"Is that all?" Higa breathed dubiously, the sheer incompetence that his subordinates were displaying was mindboggling.

The dark haired man seemed to perk up, albeit reluctantly, "We... also know that Number 4 made contact with him yesterday at his place of residence. Likely to force him into a meeting with Minaka since Uzumaki-san evidently spurns technology."

"That's not particularly surprising; people from his generation are usually like that," His employer rolled his eyes dismissively, "What else did their reports say?"

"Actually, we have... three differing reports," the calm and composed Kakizaki actually winced as if the mere thought of vocalizing the reports was causing him physical pain but continued before Higa could get himself into a right snit, "Toyotama says that she witnessed our target and MBI'S watchdog dancing naked in the garden before Karasuba bent over and took it up the rectum like a champion prostitute." Kakizaki read the sentence of the report, word for word in a flat monotone, "She also said that she never wanted to know that Karasuba could scream like that, nor did she want to know that Karasuba apparently has a round birthmark on her left butt cheek."

By this point, Higa's eyebrows were in danger of getting lost in his fair hair, "Kujou on the other hand swears that she saw the two of them enter the house before several small men, shaped like dented potatoes waddled out of the house and begin farting rainbows all over the place before they magically transformed into a bunch of horny unicorns that chased her all over town," Kakizaki flipped the report over and read the last one flatly after a pause, "Whereas Oshino claims that she witnessed our target coming back as a…. zombie after Karasuba impaled him through the head in an impossibly vicious fight in which she was supposedly losing..."

The sharply dressed man who was already in significant pain and embarrassment at his employer's silent, incredulous look, decided not to mention that all three of them were practically gibbering, traumatized wrecks when they reported in.

He would leave that part for after his employer stopped looking like someone had clubbed him over the head with a baseball bat.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Asian Kung Fu Generation – Haruka Kanata**

In a certain office at the very top of the tallest building in New Tokyo, the shades were automatically drawn back just as the two occupants in the penthouse unit just finished watching a clip that had been recorded by MBI's spy satellite play out on a 54 inch high definition display that hung from the wall.

The white haired male silently leaned back into his chair with a thoughtful expression while his slightly less composed companion slammed her clipboard onto the marble surface of the table in frustration and fear, "There's no way that could possibly be real. There must be someone in MBI that's helping him doctor that video." She immediately decided with a slight quaver in her voice.

"You are only partially right." Minaka nodded as his eyes fairly gleamed with excitement, "There is indeed someone in here helping him, but that recording was entirely real."

"He defeated KARASUBA, NUMBER 4, MBI'S WATCHDOG, THE BLACK SEKIREI!" The snow haired woman with a scar running over her left eye punctuated her words with repeated jabs at the thin man's chest while Minaka merely weathered her overly high volume with nothing but a small smile as a shield, "Unless I'm currently in a very realistic dream, that is not something that a human can do unless they've been augmented with those fancy new skeleton's or frames or whatever."

"That he did. I find myself quite fascinated with how that was possible."

"That's the point!" The ruffled woman in the crumpled lab coat gave him a wild look, "It ISN'T!"

"Not true. Haven't you heard the saying that a blade of grass can be as deadly as any sword in the hands of a true Master?" Minaka nodded at the screen again with a satisfied smile for some reason, "While it only seemed impossible, he used the twig to guide and deflect every single one of Karasuba's wild swings away from him. He never actually caught it directly on the blade. His movements were one of somebody who knew he could not keep up, minimizing the central territory he needed to guard by staying in a small space while Karasuba flailed around. While extremely unlikely by human standards, it is certainly not impossible."

Takami rolled her eyes, "Fine. Even if he's some sort of Ultra Grand Kendo Master how do you explain him stopping Karasuba from decimating an entire district? Or did she suddenly just choke and trip while accidentally IMPALING him in the head."

"I'm still thinking about that one." Minaka admitted to Takami's triumph.

"Then let me go and get him. This person is far too volatile to be allowed running around!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to stop you from doing that." The scientist with white frazzled hair replied calmly.

"Why?" The female Sahashi asked desperately, "You said the **same thing** when I wanted to find out the person that accidentally SHOVED Karasuba through a wall while he was escaping the airport. You said that you didn't want anyone to know that Karasuba had been defeated at the time in order to keep up her reputation but this person represents too much of an unknown! He's already proven that he can escape New Tokyo's perimeter with ease so how can you just let him walk away again?"

Minaka sighed and placed a file on the table that he slid to her.

Takami snatched the tablet PC from him and flipped through it with narrowed eyes before her breath hitched.

"How is this possible? How did you find out?"

"Seeing the patterns in the kind of logic that people like you use is easy when you have my point of view." Minaka remarked with an extreme confidence in himself.

Takami silently wondered if Minaka realized that he had admitted to being a complete and utter psychopath, not that it would have changed anything.

Running one finger along the file, she tapped on one of the first icons and began playing the first file.

What very few people didn't know was that the entire MBI building was riddled with a network of spy cameras arranged in such a way that there was simply no such thing as a blind spot in Minaka's design, even if it was an obvious violation of privacy. Then again, since when did Minaka give a damn about something as insignificant as that?

She immediately recognized the file that was playing as a security camera recording that oversaw the front desk where all visitors had to check into first, undergoing a security check, before they were allowed into the building. While that wasn't in and of itself strange, Minaka had obviously tagged a nondescript looking man with a seedy paunch and sparse brown hair, allowing the 3D projection system to keep an eye on him at all times for no inconceivable reason. Particular since he was oh so obviously **not** Uzumaki Naruto.

The man casually strolled through the gates before signing in at the desk. Tipping his flimsy looking baseball cap to the yawning guard, he simply walked through as if he owned the place. Her eyes were drawn to a side panel that noted the man's handwriting; Urumaki Haruto and his stated reason for visiting.

'_MBI Security Evaluation.' _

Takami slowly buried her face in her free palm and made a reminder to fire somebody before returning her resigned gaze to the tablet as it followed the strange man when the video suddenly seemed to blur for a moment.

"The equipment is not faulty. I had to change the projected angle to get confirmation." Minaka suddenly commented, "Play it back again in slow motion."

Giving him a suspicious look, Takami did as requested when she finally realized what he had. The paunchy man had been strolling through MBI's corridors, making vague notes on some sort of note pad when he seemed to walk through a group and _disappear_ entirely. Fortunately for Takami, the glowing tag stayed on the screen, only it was now attached to another man. This one tall and straight backed with a head of full black hair.

"What is that? Some sort of Ultra Grand Mask Master technique?" She jabbed at him snidely.

"He simply pulled off a wig and stood a little taller. The effect is largely psychological but even I was fooled when the person I had my eye on kept disappearing every time he walked through a throng of people until I changed the camera angle." He waved at her, "Keep watching. It gets interesting after this."

Sighing, Takami kept watching the tablet until the man had made a full inspection of MBI's inner structure, changing his posture and face several times so rapidly that Takami would have lost him if not for the glowing tag, before he _strolled into the Security Centre._

Standing at the front of the hall, he frowned and slammed the table with one meaty fist, breaking it in half, "What are you doing?!" The man roared at the room full of startled officers, "Get EVERYONE here on the double. MOVE IT!"

They practically fell over themselves trying to obey his orders. Within 5 minutes, the entire MBI Security force had been assembled in the recreation room, standing in full uniform and parade lines as they faced a man none of them had ever met before.

His sharp black eyes flashed around the room as he radiated sheer authority before throwing a clipboard on to the ruined desk before him. The very same clipboard that he had signed earlier.

"Someone turn to the 3.15 p.m. entry and tell me what is written there." The broad shouldered man in a well-cared for coat said in a bass tone of disapproval.

Without missing a beat, the Major in charge of the entire operation stepped forward and glanced through the document. Snapping a salute, he replied crisply, "You were here to do a Security Evaluation, sir!"

"Exactly." The man nodded sharply, "And why was I not stopped?" Although the man's voice was quiet, it still managed to silence the room.

"Do all of you let random strangers into MBI to inspect their Security? Is that standard Operating Protocol here?" He slammed the dented table again, "Someone better give me a damn good explanation or by the time I'm done with you, all of you are going to be shitting so hard that your insides become your outsides!"

The desk guard immediately stepped forward, a pale sheen of sweat covered his forehead as the large raven haired man stared down at him, "It was my mistake, sir! I didn't think anyone would have the guts to infiltrate MBI!"

"And that's ROOKIE MISTAKE! Are you trained soldiers or are you bloody housewives?!" The man roared in his face.

None of them hesitated in replying, much to the black haired man's obvious approval if his smile was any indication, "We are soldiers, SIR!"

"Very well. The only reason I am not let Minaka know about this slip up is because this boy at least had the guts to stand up and confess loudly but I'll keep dropping in once in a while. Do not repeat this mistake." The man saluted the room full of soldiers and left at a sharp march, "If you're good enough, you might just get a raise."

Not a single one of them relaxed until they heard the black of his boots leave the barracks.

"Who the heck was that?"

Another one shrugged, "Must be one of the Boss's contemporaries. No one else is insane enough to walk in here without any credentials and expect us to obey."

With a mumbled agreement, the entire group of 600 soldiers dismissed themselves.

The very next day, the black haired man came again.

This time, he wrote; _'Stealing Sensitive Information.'_

The guard stopped him.

Then the guard shook his hand and waved him through.

Naruto Uzumaki basically waltzed through the front gate and did whatever the heck he wanted.

Takami buried her face in her hands with a groan, "He's got balls."

Minaka agreed, "Back then was different. Letting people know that your greatest deterrent has been nullified would set the tone for the entire plan, so keeping it under wraps was inevitable. This time however, I'm stopping you because if you send people to get him now, I can guarantee we'll have a revolt on our hands since I know he's been paying them extra. He's even been visiting their families and keeping morale high."

"Great big honking balls."

******Unwavering Sky*******

A dark figure crept through the darkening hallway carefully, her socks muted any sound that her foot steps might have made as she slid into the furthest room in the corridor as stealthily as possible. The room was dark, but even she could make out that the cramped room was almost bare. A simple wardrobe that she knew the three of them shared stood in the corner beside a clean desk with only one or two books set on its surface while the walls were devoid of any decorations whatsoever.

The Spartan decorations were ignored as the figure crept towards her goal; the pale haired woman sleeping in the futon in the corner of the room, until she was hovering above the comatose woman with heavy breaths.

Slowly, she reached out and her fingers wrapped around the pale column of Karasuba's neck. A braid of red hair shifted as Matsu shifted her weight and began to squeeze when pale eyes snapped open. Matsu gasped as the weak woman still had enough strength to shove her away with her one good arm before inhaling loudly at the pain that lanced through her brain when she had instinctively tried to support her weight on her broken right arm. Suppressing the indignity of a pained yelp, the silver haired woman glared at Matsu before the cloud of pain in her eyes cleared due to the surprise.

"**Matsu?** Is that you?" Karasuba wheezed with her bruised and parched throat. Almost in a panic, her eyes flickered around the room before understanding dawned and the MBI's watchdog began laughing softly as Matsu quickly made a show of trying to straighten her dress, "You were HERE? All this time? No wonder we couldn't find a weakling like you, this was the last place any of us would have thought of looking for you since you loathed Takehito."

"What are you talking about?" a sharp voice interrupted her words and Matsu drew a surprised gasp as she whirled around.

Karasuba glanced at the woman standing in the door way and gave the pale brain type Sekirei a predatory leer, "That's right... why don't you tell Miya why we're talking about." Matsu hurriedly shot the bedridden Karasuba a warning glare that was all but ignored.

"No one hates Takehito and Minaka more than her. Not even Homura."

******Unwavering Sky******

**10 minutes earlier**

**Play EGOIST – All Alone With You**

"Who's the old hag?"

Kazehana whipped around the insult before she caught sight of the straight backed man and whatever curse she was about to shoot at the blonde died in her throat.

"Here we go." Miya muttered quietly as Kazehana's pupils dilated.

The blonde man simply stood there calmly as the woman in the purple one piece dress lunged at him with a feral look in her eyes, only to be brought down as a pair of shackles made of ice formed around her wrists and ankles, snapping them together.

A sweetly smiling woman in a white and red priestess' kimono and long glossy black hair glanced down at the hogtied woman that was squirming on the tatamis trying to edge her way to her Ashikabi before she whacked Number 3 on the head with the blunt end of her naginata; the amused smile never left her lips, "I've forgotten how amusing that can be as long as you're not on the receiving end."

Akitsu nodded solemnly as she poked Kazehana's cheek.

"Your true colours are showing, Kaho. We wouldn't want people to know that you're not really a polite, soft spoken Japanese woman now do we?" Naruto chided her gently as he leaned forward to accept the piece of cloth from Miya's outstretched hand when she felt his fingers brush her palm.

Almost instinctively the landlady flinched away from contact and the white linen fell to the ground.

If the blonde was thinking of something, he definitely hid it well as he bent over to pick the cloth up with a bland smile, only to stumble with a scowl.

Ignoring the sharp stares everyone was sending at him, he tried again and missed the piece of cloth before finally succeeding on his third try.

"What's wrong?" Miya asked cautiously.

The blonde airily waved her concerns away, "It's nothing. I just forgot to stretch." He said casually, "Always stretch before exercising."

"Stretch? You mean you pulled a muscle or something?" Miya, already irritated by the man's lack of concern for his own health, retorted snidely.

"Something like that," Naruto admitted offhandedly, sounding as if he had just realized what that dull throbbing in his head was. He was about to go back upstairs when he felt someone's clutching his sleeve.

Kaho's gleaming black eyes peered up at him in slight worry since she had never seen him lose his balance before, "Master…."

Naruto sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll check just in case."

Miya watched him run a glowing green palm down his chest with widened eyes as he began rattling off a list of rather colourful wounds that would have killed a lesser man, "I have 95 pulled muscles, torn ligaments in both legs, my left femur is fractured in seven different spots, one chipped toenail, and Karasuba actually managed to break my right arm from the sheer force of her attacks." Naruto mumbled in a vaguely surprised voice, "Oh and I can't see anything out of my left eye until my brain finishes gluing itself… back… together… either…."

"Uzumaki-san?" Purple eyes blinked owlishly as the blonde started speaking slower and slower until he stopped speaking entirely and Miya was left staring at a catatonic blonde blankly looking at the wall beside her with a dazed grin on his face while Akitsu and Kaho shared a confused look since they couldn't feel anything wrong over their connection with their Sekirei which made it all the more disconcerting, "Uzumaki!"

She hesitantly inched closer to the living corpse and nudged him, "Uzumaki?! Are you alright?"

What was she saying; there was no way that he could be alright. Surging forwards, she shook him gently, "Uzumaki?"

When the blonde didn't reply, she grabbed the lapels of his kimono and began shaking him roughly, "Naruto! Answer me!"

Startling blue eyes blinked hazily as the man seemed to move again, "Mi-Miya?" He groaned, "So-sorry, I must've blanked out for a while there."

"You idiot! Do you know how worri-" Her lips clicked shut and her eyes widened as she released her hold on his lapels and backed away from the confused blonde.

Deadlier words would not spill from her lips today.

"How what?" He mumbled as if he hadn't heard anything the woman had said.

"How idiotic can you be?" Miya mumbled quietly, "Are there any other injuries that I should know about?" She asked tersely.

"Nope!" Naruto chirped cheerfully, his little episode seemingly forgotten, "Conclusion? Forcing yourself to move at subsonic speeds when the last time you jogged a lap around the house was 15 years ago is not a good idea."

"Then why did you do that to Karasuba if you knew you couldn't handle it?!" the purple haired woman demanded hotly, "You obviously knew that you were pushing her, and you could have avoided that fight entirely. Was there any reason for that other than showing off?"

The blonde rolled his eyes as he fended her off with a wave, "Look. There's old and then there's **OLD. **Getting old usually means creaky bones, an inability to boink that very nice lady with a fetish for older men across the street and an uncontrollable urge to pee in front of everybody when you even THINK of trying to boinking said lady. Getting **OLD **is a little different." Naruto said sardonically, "Getting** OLD** means it doesn't matter if you are blind and crippled, it doesn't matter if all you have is a twig, and it sure as hell doesn't matter if you can't jack off your last remaining nut when you lost both your arms in a nuclear explosion because unless you spent all that time holed up in some wet dark cave masturbating to wall carvings, that twig is going to be bigger, thicker, and deadlier than any sword, and that half a nut you have left is going to be spewing toxic sperm all over the place like a machine gun."

He glanced at Miya, "Granted, I probably shouldn't have used a twig since it meant taking the brunt of her attacks with my body but I didn't have any other method of reducing collateral damage and it was better that then getting sliced through."

"You didn't deny the part about showing off." Miya noted flatly.

"Everybody develops a sense of theatrics when they get as old as me and frankly I don't get to do it enough. Bwahaha!"

The lavender haired housewife stared at the cackling blonde silently for a long moment as she forced herself not to look out the window. He was strangely eloquent for someone whose brain had just been supposedly minced recently.

"Your inability to lie has never hampered your ability to deceive before," She noted with a perplexed expression, "But right now, even I can't tell that you are being unusually straight forward and for some strange reason, hearing the unvarnished truth from you is rather _**unsettling**_." Again she had to stop herself from peering out the window through sheer force of will, "So much so that I have to keep stopping myself from trying to look around in order to confirm that the world isn't ending."

"I'm not actually doing this willingly," Naruto abruptly stopped cackling like a mad man and replied blandly, "No matter how powerful I am, one does not simply recover from getting a blade through the grey stuff. The left side of my brain hasn't quite managed to connect itself with the right side yet." The Uzumaki smiled stupidly, "Incidentally, being partially blind, high and horny at the same time is a rather novel experience for me. My mind is a little too frazzled and busy to bother with tricking you at the moment"

"I'm surprised; I thought you would have tried everything by now." She replied scathingly.

"Oh I have," Naruto corrected her clinically, "its only novel because I'm actually trying very hard not to throw you down and molest you right now. Usually that part isn't a problem." The blonde paused and squinted at her with a hopeful look in his one good eye.

"Unless you **want **me to?"

Miya's katana was never unsheathed faster.

"Do you have no shame!?" The words that spilled out of her lips sounded vaguely hysterical for some strange reason, "I'm your DAUGHTER IN LAW, you disgusting pervert!"

"I am not a pervert," The blonde commented airily, "My sense of humour just happens to be R-rated. Besides, having intimate relations with your parents was considered a good thing the same way having a harem a mark of a man's worth. Though judging by the distasteful look on your face, I'll have to assume that's not entirely true anymore." He paused and sighed, "Those fussy little values kept shifting so fast that I stopped trying to keep up a long time ago."

"To borrow your phrase, those _fussy little values_ are what keeps us apart from the animals." She countered tersely.

"Hmm…." Naruto placed his chin on his knuckles and grinned to himself, "That's what they said too. They died like animals anyway."

Miya glanced at his two Sekirei who were simply watching the show with hidden grins, "Why are you two smiling like that? Shouldn't you be more worried about his infidelity?"

Kaho shrugged, "Master is always so self-assured that seeing him spout all his secrets is kinda amusing. Besides, if he says that he'll be fine, then I'll believe him."

Akitsu nodded with a slight blush on her cheeks, "I… am sure he will be displeased that we are enjoying his misfortune. I look forward to our punishments."

The blonde blinked unassumingly as Miya suddenly developed a case of selective obliviousness, choosing instead to crack a rather fearsome smirk, "Spouting off his inner secrets eh?"

She felt a little bad for him, but unfortunately for the blonde, she was a rather pragmatic woman that knew when to ignore her conscience and take advantage of his somewhat uncontrollable mouth to pump the truth out of him while it lasted.

Jerking her katana, she motioned for him to pick up the unconscious Kazehana, "Why don't we go upstairs and have a nice little discussion about something I've always wanted to ask you about?"

******Unwavering Sky******

"Hate Takehito?" Purple eyes narrowed in surprise. This was something she had never known before about Matsu, and that was saying something considering how long they had been companions, if not friends, "What does she mean, Matsu?" Miya repeated again with a frosty tone that made it clear that she was not about to let it go.

Matsu's brown eyes flashed with anger directed at the humming man behind Miya as the woman beside her instantly stiffened and growled at the blonde with a stupid smile plastered on his face, "Why don't you ask your new toy?"

Miya briefly gazed over her shoulder at the distant blonde and his two Sekireis and beckoned for them to come in. As the seven of them crowded into the small and cramped room that belonged to Naruto, the purple haired landlady flashed Naruto a pleasant smile, "Uzumaki-san, can you tell me what Matsu meant by that?"

"Hmmmm?" Naruto smiled brightly as if he had just noticed the red headed computer geek, "Matsu-chan! You should come out more often!"

Miya sighed and poked him with the scabbard of her katana, "Focus, Uzumaki. Now is not the time to regress, answer the question!"

"Oh…" The man wrinkled his nose as if he was trying to remember what they were talking about, "Oh! I was just thinking you know," The erratic blonde jerked his chin in her direction, "You let slip that modern day Ashikabi's have Sekirei blood in them didn't you? So I decided to use Matsu as an experiment!"

The red head simply smiled bitterly.

"Since I probably would have noticed if some aliens appeared and began mating with the locals, this more than likely happened before my time **but** if that was true, then brain type Sekirei's like Matsu who can only connect to the internet would have been practically useless back then. Then I had another thought, if the Single Digit Sekireis were all symbolic in some way, it was only natural that #01 who represents the limits of the _Body_, would have been paired with #02, the Sekirei that represented the limits of the _Mind _in the same way Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Wind and Earth are all connected." He paused and giggled to himself, "Though I haven't figured out exactly why Akitsu has Ice since it isn't a primary element, I'd expected it to be Soul or Metal."

Naruto's cheerfully even tone and erratic thoughts made it hard to follow but everyone was beginning to understand something that nobody wanted to admit, "I was curious if my hypothesis about her powers were true, so I lured Matsu with a few questions. Since there were no absolute rule saying there had to be battles back then, and there wasn't any internet for Sekireis like Matsu to manipulate, the only natural conclusion I came to was that they had been stunted in some way to accommodate Minaka's plan. Keeping track of Sekireis who could fly or blow stuff up with their minds must have been annoying."

"Is this true?" Miya whispered disbelievingly, "Ho-How…."

"Not very pleasant is it?" Matsu remarked with a strange smile, "The way he stares at you and sees all your secrets with that smile. The way his poisonous words slowly creep into your mind, undermining everything you have ever done as the actions of a delusional, selfish, worthless, cowardly woman that cannot do anything but rave and rant because your abilities were ripped away from you. A woman who would willingly hide in the home of the person she hated most just because she was a coward, even worse, she did nothing but stay holed up in her room without even thinking about taking revenge."

Purple eyes stared in shock at the venomous tone coming from her oldest friend, "Why didn't you say anything?" Miya uttered in a hushed tone.

Matsu hung her head for a long silent moment before she slowly reached out to the oldest Sekirei with a pleading look in her eyes, "How could I? You were so in love with him, how could I tell you that he took everything from me?"

"And me?" The woman in the futon croaked with a strange light burning in her eyes, "How did you know about Yume?"

The blonde cocked his head innocently, "I didn't."

Karasuba growled and was about to lunge at the insane blonde when she felt someone grasp her shoulder and push her down, "Don't worry, Naruto-sama will answer in time. He cannot lie at the moment. You however, are weak now, Karasuba-sama, so you have to rest."

The silver haired woman peered up at the girl who was holding her down, Kaho's black eyes were glittering with a sick sense of enjoyment as she continued to pamper Karasuba like a little disobedient child.

"I only knew that they came in pairs when I borrowed that document listing all the Sekirei in the Sekirei Plan. I knew that #08 passed away in a mission where her other partner was you but I did not know how nor did I know the details. But seeing as your current attitude and recurrent nightmares," He gestured at her heavy eye bags, "began directly after that, you were most certainly suffering from some sort of survivor's guilt or an imbalance when your other half disappeared. All I had to do was simply ask the right questions and your reaction would give me the answer."

"You are quite possibly the last person to expect this kind of logic and common sense from." Kaho commented dryly while everyone else was busy being awestruck, "In a certain way, it's almost as bad as you being completely honest."

"The more detached you are from them, the easier it is to notice patterns in their behaviour." The blonde countered impishly.

"Why do you have this document when no one else does?" Miya asked curiously, "I don't think any other Ashikabi were given one."

The blonde looked at her like she had lost a couple of IQ points.

It was a testament to the strength of his conviction that the question managed to knock some semblance of seriousness back into his muddled thoughts, "I was told that I _had _to participate in some sort of battle royale where my partner or partners as the case maybe, had to put their life on the line whether or not I wanted to join simply by virtue of taking care of Akitsu and Kaho. Did you honestly expect me to just sit back and watch as Kaho and Akitsu were treated like collectible cards for an illegal tournament without at the very least giving them some sort of advantage by finding out _who _they might have to face? I'm actually more surprised that no one else seems to think that kind of information is an asset."

"No… I guess not." She admitted grudgingly as her lips curled into a small smile.

Beside Miya, Kaho sweat dropped at the sight of Akitsu nuzzling the blonde, "She looks as blank as ever but that bubbly pink aura of happiness is kind of…. Annoying."

******Unwavering Sky******


	12. Author's Note The GOOD kind

Author's Note

Sorry about this, this ain't an update, or at least not the kind you think it is. I had no idea how to let you guys know and figured putting this here would be the fastest way.

You know, I always thought that I'm the more impulsive twin and I know that Kishi never misses a chance to claim how hard he has it trying to keep me from doing something stupid but sometimes, I wonder if he has a single lick of common sense in that egg shell he calls a head.

Particularly since I am now sitting outside the hospital, weeping my eyes out and generally just being a really grumpy bitch while I wait for the Doctors to finish stitching him up.

_NEWS FLASH BRO, STOPPING A KNIFE WITH YOUR GODDAMN STOMACH IS A **REALLY **STUPID THING TO DO, NO MATTER **HOW **IMPRESSED THE GIRLS WILL BE._

_NEXT TIME, DRRRIIIVEEEE THEM HOME INSTEAD OF TAKING A NICE ROMANTIC WALK DOWN A DARK STREET AFTER A COUPLE OF DRINKS ON A** SUNDAY** EVENING._

_THERE'S A REASON MUM GAVE US HER CAR!_

Right. Just figured the readers would have liked to know that Kishi was being stupid. Particularly since he graduates, or at least WAS supposed to graduate in six weeks. Unless he can somehow attend final exams with 9 stitches, I foresee Kishi getting grounded for the rest of his life.

The End.

P.S. Don't review to this. Though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing his face as i make him read all the nice, polite, derogatory messages extolling his brain stem that I'm sure you readers will send him.


	13. Cross Roads

**Unwavering Sky Chapter 12**

**Cross Roads**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission...**

**Kishi**: Some of you already know that I'm moving away from Adelaide after graduation, but if you didn't then you do now. Rest assured that I love working on all our fics, even **Boobs on Legs the Manga Minus Common Sense** so I assure you that we will try our very best to find a way to write our stuff together. However, since there was a slight, very absolutely tiny, possibility that we might never write another chapter again, we wanted this Unwavering Sky to be our last update, so we poured everything into this chapter.

Don't worry; it's just a little intense.

Kishi out

P. S: Ichihara Yuuko is a character from the xXxHolic series. I recommend you at least see one or two episodes of you want to grasp the significance. Don't worry, I'm just borrowing certain philosophies from her and her verse, we're not doing a third crossover in this already complicates story.

**Soundtrack List**

Supercell - Tsumibito

Asian Kung Fu Generation – Mugen Glider

Tari Tari – Kokoro no Senritsu

Chiaki Ishikawa - Prototype

Jia Peng Fang – Silent Moon

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play** **Supercell - Tsumibito**

_The light of the burning city seemed to illuminate the entire night sky as a figure floated above the carnage. Though he had neither wings nor any visible method of doing so, the man seemed to hang in the sky, ignoring the smoke and heat that rose from below, scorching his face and parching his throat as crystal spires that reached for the Heavens crashed to the Earth with an almighty groan. _

_Like the courtrooms filled with condemning looks, each crash was a resounding shout against humanity, crying out for their destruction, casting down Judgement. Dead, broken blue eyes stared at the blood soaking his clothes, his entire body and dripping off his hands. _

_Above and behind him, the sky shimmered, warping light around it, as if there was an invisible titan behind him, holding him up effortlessly. Higher even than the Titan, the moon seemed to shiver as if it was cracking apart, as if something was trying to dig its way out with a dreadful anticipation. _

_All around him, huge chunks of rocks, flaming meteors fell from the Heavens to strike at the city, but a glowing barrier made of beautifully symmetrical polygons held firm even against those heavenly strikes, although one or two occasionally managed to break through when it wavered._

"_What have you done?!" a feminine voice screamed in anguish. In the air beside him, some sort of window formed out of white wisps of smoke, a woman, one that would have been truly beautiful had she not been crying with despair as she reached out to him with long fingernails. _

_Barely giving the apparition beside him a passing glance, his clouded blue eyes returned to their contemplation of the burning city, once the symbol of a rising empire, easily ignoring the strange looking woman who was peering at him through some sort of window. _

_She screamed again, her throat tearing with pain and sadness, "Why have you done this?!" _

_His lips opened slowly, his throat had long since dried out from the heat and the voice that echoed from him sounded far more like granite gnashing on each other rather than the sound of a human voice, "Why shouldn't I?"_

_The woman's dark eyes bugged at him in soundless incredulity._

"_I raised them up. I was the one who met their ancestor, gave him the secret of power because he was an honest and sincere man. I raised them up, presided over them like a God year after year, ensuring their future while they flourished like a magnificent tree. I watched over them as they brought the secret of chakra far beyond anything I could ever have imagined by merging it with technology." _

_The man chuckled mirthlessly, and continued speaking to the stranger as if it was something he did every day, "And what did they do? So proud of their achievements, secure in their superiority, they decided to enslave the rest of the world, if not by words then by force because it was the duty of the strong to guide the weak." The man who was floating in the sky with as the smell of burning flesh rose to his height laughed, a deep cracking sound that seemed to mirror his psyche, "Even when their deity who has watched over them for centuries got on his knees and begged them to stop, they decided that they had outgrown him. They tried to cage him and experiment on him. What else was my response supposed to be?"_

"_That's the point you ignorant fool!" Her jet black eyes flashed with a thousand emotions, "Like an idiot desperate for company, you thought that you could vanquish that pain by helping other gain immortality, but that's the point!" The woman continued to rail at him from behind her window as thick tears ran down her cheeks, "You__** GAVE**__ them the knowledge! But they lacked the meaning, the WISDOM to use it, WISDOM they were supposed to acquire during the journey towards that Knowledge! Without that wisdom, all your knowledge was nothing but writing on a tablet, they didn't understand the significance, the meaning behind the knowledge!" _

_The man whose long sunshine yellow hair wilted under the greasy smoke regarded her with another dead stare, "And so I rectify my mistake." _

_He lifted one hand to the sky. _

"_Wait!" The woman thundered in anguish, "There's still time!" _

"_**The Sum of All Fear**__." _

_A quiet, deadly voice echoed. The titan heaved and a truly massive weapon that resembled nothing so much as a huge, naked blade made of pure, glowing light appeared in its fist. _

_Her eyes widened as she threw her hands at the window uselessly, trying do something, anything to stop him. _

_If it had been possible, she would have done something, talked to him earlier, helped him. _

_But how do you find someone who had spent entire __**lifetimes**__ hiding? You didn't. All you could do, all you CAN do, was wait until he showed HIMSELF. _

_And show himself he did. _

_The gigantic blade, whose very point was as large as the island below him hung in mid air like a terrible guillotine. _

_And when it fell, the displaced air didn't whistle, it roared._

_The barrier flickered just for the briefest of seconds before it cracked and shattered uselessly, allowing the Titan to bury its blade deep in the bowels of the Earth, crushing whatever remained of the Mu Empire. It remained there for a second, two seconds, before the massive naked sword dissipated with a huge rush of wind, leaving a gaping wound in the Earth._

_A wound that would remain gaping and bleeding for the next thousand generations. _

_The woman in the window cried and bucked as she felt millions of lives being extinguished uselessly before she fell to the ground with a breathless cry. The heaving bundle of clothes sobbed into her hands before obsidian eyes, burning with hate glared up at the impassive man through black bangs._

_Slowly, she staggered upright again, her long black hair floated around her with the power she was gathering into her. _

"_Because of your own foolish loneliness, you made a mistake." Her voice rang out with sheer hate, "When you realized the mistake, you threw it aside like an unwanted toy without any regard for the thousands upon thousands of innocents who simply wanted to live. __**Because of your pride and ignorance, I curse you. I CURSE YOU TO FEEL EVERY THE PAIN ALL OF THEM SUFFERED AS THEIR LIVES WERE EXTINGUISHED BY A PATHETHIC GOD!**__"_

_The long haired blond who was standing in mid air merely stared through her impassively, his eyes focused on the stinking huge hole on the surface of the Earth._

_He would be the first, last and only person she would ever hate enough to truly curse. _

_Dead blue eyes looked up curiously, and for the first time since they had met ten minutes ago, focused enough to understand what he was looking at, but it was a little too late. _

_At first it was a simple itch, a certain uncomfortable emptiness in his chest, but the longer he stared at her, the deeper that hole became and the more it seemed like it was being filled with the burning grudge of dead. _

_Black eyes flashed in satisfaction as the man clawed at his face, screaming horrifically. He gouged his eyes out, tore his own heart out, but he just wouldn't die. He tore and clawed at his skin, screaming until his throat burst into shreds, until even his own body gave up on healing but the pain would not go away. _

_Then he suddenly stiffened and went slack like a puppet whose strings had been cut, huge gaping scars ran across his body as blood fell from him like rain. His eyes no longer showed any sign of consciousness or awareness. _

_Then he fell from the sky and the Dimension Witch watched him plummet to the ground like a broken bird with a satisfied expression. _

_Naruto woke up with a jolt. Sweat ran down his forehead as he spun around in his comfortable chair before he relaxed back into it with a heavy sigh. _

"_Haven't had THAT dream in a while…" the blond mumbled to himself as his chair swayed with a nice, regular rhythm. _

_Outside the window, scenery flashed until the train slowly eased into the station. _

_He smiled faintly as his window stopped right under the sign proclaiming his stop._

_**Old Tokyo. **_

_Naruto sighed to himself, "Time to meet the apprentice I guess." _

******Unwavering Sky******

Turquoise blue eyes blankly watched the clouds puff away above her as she sat on the window seat. Her eyes turned downwards to where she could hear the people bustling away on a semi busy street that was lined with quaint looking stores.

There was a somewhat mellow atmosphere in this part of the city and the little homely two story house she had found herself in only added to the feeling.

In the background, the small tv was buzzing, announcing the beginning of the second stage and the closure of all routes that led out of the city. What the tv didn't mention however, was the fact that now all the Ashikabi's in New Tokyo would have to Wing the remaining 10% of Sekirei, including herself.

Pretending to gently brushing back her way golden hair, Tsukiumi took the chance to stare at her guardian. The man stood a little behind her, leaning on the wall with his eyes closed.

As if he could feel her gaze, he opened one eye, "Are you cold?"

As vigorously as her lethargic body let her, Tsukiumi shook her head and returned to her contemplation of the sky.

However a slight chill ran down her back as the open window let in a cold breeze that smelt of the coming autumn.

Without saying anything, the man who had picked her up that night shrugged off his jacket and leaned forward.

He ignored her violent flinch at his proximity and wrapped his jacket around her thin shoulders.

Once that was done, he folded his arms again and closed his eyes.

"….." Tsukiumi opened her mouth, but her throat didn't want to function. Though that was probably more because she had not used it for an extended period of time rather than fear.

Licking her lips, she tried again.

"C-Can… we go out and walk?"

His eye opened lazily at her tentative croak and he smiled sincerely. Hearing her talk for the first time since he had found her in that forest was a little reassuring since he had almost begun to think that she was a mute.

"You can do anything you want."

Tsukiumi who was dressed in nothing but an airy white night dress and the man's black coat around her shoulders eagerly tried to stand up, but she had overestimated her own strength.

Her knees wobbled once before they gave way and the well-endowed water Sekirei swayed before the man calmly caught her elbow.

Ignoring her flinch again, he gently helped her into a wheel chair that hadn't been there before.

"Just relax, and tell me where you want to go."

"O…kay." Tsukiumi whispered.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Asian Kung Fu Generation – Mugen Glider**

"So…. What do we do now?" Matsu finally said quietly, breaking the thick drawn out silence that had filled the room ever since a certain blond's revelations had filled their hearts with confusion as easily as it had filled the room with an uncomfortable uneasiness. Miya unsurely shook her head from beside Matsu.

Ever since the blond had left the room to give them some time to think, thanks to Akitsu's surprisingly quick thinking, neither she nor Miya could bring themselves to look each other in the eye even though they kept close while Karasuba simply laid in her futon with a pale and withdrawn face.

While Miya and Matsu were simply coming to terms with the information they had been given, Karasuba was having some problems trying to accept that everything she had done, her utterly desperate need to fight Musubi and destroy everything could be so simply explained away with a few sentences.

She couldn't, wouldn't accept it.

The alternative would simply mean that she had been venting her anger by tearing other Sekirei apart with her duty as MBI's Watchdog as an excuse on top of the fact that she was still struggling to believe that she had been summarily defeated by a human despite everything she had personally witnessed.

Her entire belief structure had been crushed within a span of ten minutes. Revealing that, no matter how much more physically powerful they were compared to human; she was still just as weak as them.

Just like a simple, barbaric human.

With a snap, she made her decision.

She needed to get out of this place before the blond came back and made things even worse.

"Where are you trying to go, Karasuba?" Miya suddenly said sharply as she gave the grey haired woman who was trying to get up from her futon a warning look.

"I need to leave." She grunted and threw the blanket off her disgustingly weak body, "I can't stay here any longer."

"You're not going anywhere in your condition." Miya replied stiffly as she pushed Karasuba back into bed, "I don't want you to be here anymore than you do, but I won't let you go out and hurt yourself either."

Karasuba snorted, "Says the woman who nearly killed me."

Turning her face away from Miya's complicated expression, the grey haired woman cursed under her breath. She knew that she hadn't been injured too badly but her body refused to move as she wanted. According to Miya, the Uzumaki had refrained from doing too much physical damage simply because she would be more interesting alive than dead but no matter what, she could barely even muster the energy to even stand up, until the door banged open again.

"Hai~" Naruto chirped with a childish grin as he set the plate down. Two rows of delicious looking rice balls sat on the sparkling plate, emanating a mouthwatering aroma that had even Karasuba struggling to stop salivating as her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

Her pale skin flushed faintly as she glared at the strange blond man in the kimono, his good cheer almost seemed like blasphemy when you realized that he had almost single handedly shattered a few worldly truths, like how Matsu had been hiding her feelings, or how Sekirei could be beaten with nothing but simple if efficient human skills.

His wide, earnest grin as he forced the rice balls into Miya and Matsu's reluctant hands only served to aggravate their already frayed nerves and make it all the more obvious that he still hadn't been able to put his abrupt and random mood swings back under his control.

She half expected him to suddenly go monotone again, or just start cackling evilly any minute now.

Sitting back down with Akitsu and Kaho by his side, the childish seeming blond began munching on his rice ball without reserve, scattering bits of rice everywhere.

Sharing a look filled with mixed feelings, Miya and Matsu sighed with a long suffering tone and daintily took a bite out of their rice balls.

The fresh smell of seaweed that was wrapped around the rice ball flooded their mouth while the rice was so fresh that it was still crunchy. Each bite they took sent a uniquely salty yet sour taste shooting through their taste buds….

"PFFFT!" Miya inadvertently sprayed rice all over Karasuba, earning her a heated look, and began coughing into a handkerchief.

"Gah! What is this?!" Matsu spat the rice ball back out with a grimace, "What did you put in here? Sweat?"

It would appear that, just like his ability to deceive, Naruto's ability to cook had temporarily abandoned him as well.

The blond continued nibbling on his rice ball like a squirrel and cocked his head, "Oh…." He looked down at his own rice ball, "I need to cook the rice first don't I? No wonder it was so hard to keep them together… so Akitsu suggested using c…. something sticky. Isn't she smart?"

Beside him Akitsu smiled proudly while Kaho stared at her and made a mental note to never let the ice user near a kitchen.

Karasuba was mildly thankful that Naruto hadn't forced one of those deadly items on her.

"What did you use to stick them together?!" a wide eyed Matsu spluttered, "That pause in the middle of the sentence when you were about to say something else sounded really bad!"

He grinned at her stupidly, making the red head growl.

Miya sighed exasperatedly and restrained Matsu, "There's no point taking it out on him now. He doesn't look like he would even understand why we're punishing him anyway." She shot the only male in the room a searching look, "Before that though… we might as well find out if there's anything else our friend here would like to shock us with?"

Hearing the tired and weary note in Miya's voice caused Matsu to settle back down with a grunt.

Brown eyes flicked to Miya and Matsu made a discontented sound in her throat. She didn't want to hrut Miya anymore than necessary, but she had to know.

For years she had had memories of older Sekireis doing things with their minds that she was unable to, for years she had kept her grudge to herself and the Uzumaki represented her best chance of finding out why they had practically lobotomized her.

"Do you know why Takehito did that to me? Matsu finally asked with a desperate look in her eyes as she pretended not to notice Miya's flinch.

Naruto slowly placed his half eaten rice ball back onto the plate and regarded her quizzically.

"I never said directly that it was Takehito who did anything," The blond cocked his head innocently, "I simply outlined that I suspected you were depowered and let your agitation answer everything else, whether by actions or words. The actual culprits were your own assumptions."

Naruto paused before adding, "While I believe that MBI certainly did _something _to you and the other Mind Type Sekireis, I don't, even for a moment, believe that the boy I raised had anything to do with it, and I won't until someone can shove solid proof under my nose. In fact, I wouldn't put it past MBI to have done something to him because he tried to fix the project when he realized they were doing something he disagreed with but ultimately, I will NOT move until I have seen the arguments from both sides of the fence."

Beside Matsu, the purple haird landlady went ashen as she considered his argument. From the very onset, Minaka had known far more about the Sekirei Plan than Takehito did as an adjuster who only worked according to the guidelines they had been given, and Naruto had made a very compelling point.

"Is that why you don't usually harm our sisters, as opposed to… to humans?" Kaho suddenly thought of something as she remembered the five men Naruto had incinerated, "Because they seem pitiful to you?"

The blond very clearly hesitated before he shrugged.

"Partially. As far as I'm concerned, adult humans must have an understanding of what they're doing while Sekirei lack that particular benefit, making them much more pliable and earnest. To borrow Miya's quote, I cannot punish someone who doesn't understand the significance of his actions."

A flicker of his usual composure floated to the surface of his blue eyes as he squeezed her small hand in his own large ones, "Whether they retain that earnestness, honesty and ability to love even with that awareness is something I look forward to finding out. For now…. Until then, as long as they don't actively harm me or mine, I will let it pass."

"Why are you doing this?" Karasuba muttered quietly from her corner, "Everything you have said so far makes it look like you wants to understand us, but for what purpose? What is this end goal you are seeking?"

Blue eyes twinkled merrily, "So I can kill all Sekirei."

"….."

Everyone in the room face palmed simultaneously as he contradicted everything he had said barely a minute ago.

"I knew it. Letting him go earlier was a bad idea. He's beginning to deceive again."

The blond's facial muscles twitched as he tried to make a chagrined expression at being found out so easily, but it didn't quite take and only succeeded in making him look constipated.

"Knowing him, killing all Sekirei was probably one part of the plan or a metaphor for something else though." Kaho muttered. Naruto shot her a betrayed look that was countered with an impishly adorable one.

"Let me rephrase that," Miya uttered exasperatedly, "What are you planning to do with this knowledge and what is your ultimate goal for the Sekirei Plan? Use us to conquer the world?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Naruto hedged with a strangled tone, "I can do that myself perfectly fine. I just don't because humans are so ludicrously easy to kill that it's boring and they kinda taste like raw beef on steroids anyway."

They stared at him.

"Now, Naruto." Miya gave him a severe look, "Tell us the honest truth!"

His eyes wildly looked around the room as his mouth slowly opened despite his not entirely connected brain telling it otherwise.

"I…."

"I…?"

"I…. can't tell you!"

He grinned triumphantly.

Then he punched himself in the face.

Everyone stared at the blond who was snoring on the floor, face first.

"He just broke his own nose because he thought telling us right now would make everything less funny didn't he?" the raven haired Kaho grumbled wryly.

Matsu made an agreeing grunt, "That and probably so he can keep lording it over us."

"I REALLY don't like that man." Karasuba noted flatly.

Miya made a half sob, half chuckle, "At least we agree on that. Incidentally, will you be joining us for dinner?"

MBI's feared Black Sekirei stared at her as Miya pretended not to notice that she had just made the first move to repair an old friendship.

"….As long as you keep him under control." She finally said carefully.

Miya used her the back of her katana to hit Naruto on the head again. "There. Done."

Giving the landlady an injured look for hurting her Ashikabi, Akitsu cradled Naruto's unconscious head and delighted herself by running one hand through golden yellow locks and listening to the blond purring on her lap.

As Kaho and Akitsu carried the blond out of the room, Miya thought she heard a whisper.

It reached her ears as if it was being carried on the wind.

_I have now given you the tools that endless secrets cannot. Where the Sekirei go from here, how they decide to move from here, whether they discover why they have been sent to this planet and whether that results in their destruction at my hands, or their revival, is up to you._

If she didn't know any better, she could almost imagine hearing the blond crow triumphantly if he wasn't already knocked out.

"**All according to plan**."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Tari Tari – Kokoro no Senritsu**

Kazehana scratched her head and blinked rapidly.

Sure she still had a headache after waking up from an unplanned day time nap, but she figured that the scene before her eyes was a little too real to be a product of her fevered, alcohol soaked, imaginations.

At least she didn't think so.

Her eyes shifted from the head of the table where Miya was sitting in a dignified, straight backed posture to the woman beside her.

Miya and Karasuba were speaking to each other amiably, if a little too politely, but they were still having a conversation that did not involve insults and pointy things.

An ACTUAL conversation.

If that wasn't already bizarre enough for Kazehana to desperately wish that she was flaming drunk, every time Karasuba lifted up her chopsticks; the exceptionally well endowed Sekirei couldn't help but automatically brace herself for a miniature war in Izumo Inn's dining room that didn't happen.

On Karasuba's left, a girl called Musubi was nattering away happily as she force fed a lanky looking kid that seemed really familiar for some reason though she avoided looking at the tall blond man on the other side of the table.

Speaking of the blond, he had a small beautiful little child on his lap and a freaking wooden kitten that pawed and MEOWED at him for scraps.

She was beginning to think that this was a rather realistic dream of some sort brought on by the stress of loneliness.

Despite his rather interesting companions, the blonde man merely smiled faintly as he fed Kusano another bite of stew. On his left was Akitsu and Kaho took his right.

"Slow down, Ku-chan. Your food isn't going anywhere." Naruto chided as he wiped away some smudges on Kusano's cheek with his thumb, "And stop trying to feed Mi-chan, he can't eat no matter how much he wants to."

Ku pouted at him sadly, "Really?"

Naruto tapped her nose with a boyish grin, "Really really."

"Okay..."

"Mew!" The small kitten on her lap yowled at him in protest, causing the blonde to tap its nose as well.

With an angry yowl, Mi-chan curled itself up and froze into a stationary carving of a kitten; the wooden animal equivalent of a cold shoulder.

Just as he was about to start digging in, Akitsu tugged at his sleeve and looked at him almost expectantly, he wasn't really sure since her expression had hardly budged an inch. Rolling his eyes with amusement, he brushed away the smudge of curry smearing the corner of her lips with his thumb. Akitsu immediately brightened a little and returned to her food, though Naruto noticed that the normally neat Sekirei was now deliberately being messy, somehow missing her mouth several times with her spoon.

Even before Kaho tugged his right sleeve, Naruto already knew that his other Sekirei was feeling competitive and that it was only a matter of time before one of them dumped the contents of their plates down their kimono so that he could peel their clothes off and lick….

Okay….

So he WASN'T completely fine yet.

Baggy hakamas were made for a reason, BANZAI!

******Unwavering Sky******

A few hours after dinner, Kazehana stumbled down the stairs with a pounding headache.

Gripping the neck of the bottle in her hands a little tighter as she went looking for a suitable spot for a nice drink, she smiled happily; at least Miya had allowed her to drink once Kusano went to sleep.

Maybe then the headache and the strange delusions would go away.

"Oya, you're here too."

The blond who was leaning on the wooden support pillar on the veranda sleepily looked up at her, "Hmmm? Ah. Booby old hag."

Her eyebrows twitched and she struggled to smile pleasantly, "Shouldn't that be at least nee-chan?"

"Mrgh. Is that what I said?" He thoughtfully sipped his cup of tea again, "Sometimes, things just slip out, so I'll apologize in case something rude slips out again."

"Did you really get your brain cut in half?" Kazehana asked curiously.

"More like squashed and mushed inside a meat grinder. I take it Miya told you?"

"I… still find it a little hard to believe that you're an actual immortal." She commented in reply as she slipped down on the veranda beside him.

The blond regarded her coolly, "You don't look very surprised about it though. Even Miya still hasn't accepted it, at least I think she hasn't."

"Oh I am." Kazehana giving the bottle in her hands a significant look, she smoothly cutt the top off with a small gust of wind and took a deeeep swig straight from the bottle, "But this helps. Plus Miya-chan was always something of a stick in the mud, wanting to be a prim and proper Japanese housewife before you even knew what a blowjob was will do that to you."

The blond chortled at her blunt honesty, "You're definitely different from the rest of them."

She smirked seductively and ran one teasing finger up her long and luscious thigh, "I aim to please."

"You can stop that now." The blond commented dryly, "It doesn't work on me."

Kazehana made a discontented pout; she had never met a single man who had never been at least a little affected by her skimpy attire, "You're no fun. I'm sure Minato-chan would have given me a more interesting reaction."

"You'll have to excuse this old man then. Pleasures of the flesh get a little repetitive after a while."

Feeling a little better after her fifth gulp of sake, she blearily looked at him, "That must really suck…. You can't even fall in love can you? Everyone will just keep dying while you watch them waste away."

"It's better than some other things I can think off." The blond replied coolly.

"Like?"

There was a pregnant silence as Naruto peered into his cup.

"There was once, a long time ago, when I had enough of getting hurt, so I isolated myself. I went and hid in the mountain, far away from everyone else. If I was alone, I couldn't make friends. If I was alone, I couldn't be hurt by others." He emptied his cup of tea, "That desperately lonely existence, keeping to yourself and stopping yourself from forming bonds…. Even getting your heart broken again and again was better than that. Though when the pain from THAT starts getting too much, I just go back into the mountains and spend a few years alone again."

"In other words, you just stopped caring and picked whatever seemed less painful at the time?"

The blond smiled thinly as he remembered Akitsu's words before she pledged herself to him, and how easily she had seen through his façade.

'_Even if you might outlive us, you will accept us, if only because you are too tired to run and resist. You think that a fleeting comfort is better than none at all.'_

"It's less trouble." Peering at the woman who was swaying back forth unsteadily, he wondered if she was already drunk, "Do you know how much effort you need to put into shielding yourself? Eventually you just stop caring altogether unless you can find something, an idea, a fleeting passion, anything to remind yourself that you're still there."

"Sounds like there's nothing but pain…"

"It has its up and downs." The blond commented blandly.

Kazehana chortled, "So what do you do? If you're really as old as you say, what do you do for fun? You must know some sort of special secret to spending your time right?"

Gesturing at the block of wood in his hands, the blond smiled faintly, "I carve, I watch and I survive."

"That's boring…. You must do something else to wait it out… Don't you even smoke?"

"No."

"Do you drink?"

"No."

"You don't even watch porn and… you know."

One yellow eyebrow arched at the jerking motions she was making with one hand, "Do cave paintings count?"

"No..." She took another swig directly from her bottle, "Then how in the world do you have fun in life if you're really so old?"

"I lie to idiots who equate smoking, drinking and porn with all the fun in the world," Naruto deadpanned with a pointed look.

The big busted alcoholic gaped at him for a moment before she collapsed in giggles, "I deserved that didn't I?"

Naruto smiled faintly at the giggling woman, "A little."

Sighing, Kazehana rolled on to her back, ignoring the pounds of meat rolling around on her chest, "I still can't even imagine how that works. I've been alive barely 20 years now, but I already feel like life isn't worth living unless I'm drinking. How did you deal with it?"

It depends," The heavily scarred blonde replied softly, "Sometimes you get stupid ideas, and sometimes you stay drunk for a century or two. I only drink when I have something sad to drink for though, or when there's something happy to toast for."

That one line was what told Kazehana that the strange man probably wasn't as bad as he looked.

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Tari Tari – Reflectia (Choir Version)**

Kusano cheerfully hummed a happy tune to herself as she bounced towards a patch of wild flowers. Even though she was a little lonely that Minato-nii chan was a little too busy to play with her all the time, she didn't mind because Naruto-jii chan always took her to new and fun looking places.

Today, Naruto-jii chan had taken her to a day care center that belonged to an acquaintance of his. All around them, children were playing in the sandbox or the playground but she had stuck close to his knees.

At least she did until their conversation bored the little blond girl enough for her to wander off alone; feeling a little scared of all the other children. As she knelt down beside the little bush of unknown flowers in order to inspect it a little closer, she felt someone tapping her shoulder. Looking up, her long, bushy golden hair fell in waves as another small girl that looked her age held up a ball, "Play?"

Looking to where the blond man was still talking with his friend for permission. Naruto, who had Akitsu-nee chan and Kaho-nee chan standing a little behind him while Miya-baa chan stood a little apart from them, ostensibly only there to watch out for Kusano, nodded gracefully at the unspoken question.

Her round little face lit up with happiness as she bounced up, "Unn!"

Darting over to the blond with her new friend, she grabbed his wrist and grinned as they pulled him away from the warm, homely matron he had been speaking to, "Come play, jii-chan!"

His lips turned up in an innocent grin of his own as the two girls tackled his middle and he went down rolling. Before long, several other children joined their little group and before he knew it, Naruto was carrying at least five children on his back for a ride.

A tiny smile touched Akitsu's lips as a certain warmth filled her chest at the sight of the blond rolling around on the ground with a loud chuckle, play wrestling with the three boys that had charged him.

"You really don't see an adult who would just start rolling in the ground without regard for his clothes very often." The plump woman clapped her hands, "Just don't be too rough with the nice uncle alright?" she hollered at the little kids that frequented her kindergarten.

"Hai~ Baa-chan~"

Giving Akitsu, Kaho and Miya a warm smile she bowed politely, "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and get something."

A small sigh escaped Akitsu's lips as the nice lady left them, "… He looks like he has shed a few thousand years of burden doesn't he?"

"I'm not sure if it's because he's a big child himself or because his brains are still partially scrambled though." Miya noted stiffly.

On the sandbox, Naruto squawked as he lost to the three boys.

"….Isn't it good either way?" Akitsu pointed out in her customary monotone although anybody who heard her would also hear the adoration in her voice, "… I just want to see him happy."

"So… you're saying that we just need to stab him in the head every few years to keep him a little carefree?" Kaho quirked her lips in an amused smile, "I don't mind as long as you volunteer to cook…. Or not…" Sighing, she rubbed her temples, "You can't cook either can you? Miya-san, can you teach me how to cook?"

The purple haired woman smiled beatifically, "Of course, Kaho-chan. All you had to do was ask."

The three of them continued to have a hushed conversation when they noticed the matronly woman appear again, this time gingerly carrying a stringed wooden instrument in her hands, "Uzumaki-san, here it is. I haven't been able to find anybody who was good enough to take care of this thing except you, so it's just been sitting in my storeroom all this time."

Handing him the stringed instrument with gentle hands she beamed at the blond who was careful to keep any sand or curious boys away from it. Gingerly plucking a few strings, the blond listened carefully before he tilted his head in her direction, "It's in pretty good shape, so I won't have to do much."

"When I heard you had come back, I was delighted," the woman replied as the blond cut a sliver of wood from a block with his black knife, "I had almost given up on finding somebody who knew how to help me take care of it and I just couldn't trust anyone with a family heirloom like this."

Matsu did mention that he used to work as a handyman around here didn't she?

Gently wedging the wooden sliver into the lute's soundboard to tighten the strings a little, he plucked them again, "I'll need to change the strings and replace some of the worn out wood, but you took really good care of it."

Tapping on the wooden board to create a rhythm, Miya watched the blond slowly begin crooning a melody. All around the playground, children slowly began flocking to the scarred blond who towered above them even if he was sitting, bewitched by his melody.

Winking at her once, the blond suddenly burst into a slow song.

He sang of a child who climbed a hill with his friends and looked down on the wide blue sea that lay before them and a lazy spring.

His deep, husky voice warbled smoothly as he sang about dancing in a shower of falling petal blossoms and the difference between simple greed and wishes.

He sang about the gentle evening breeze and how to conquer fear.

The entire time, his blue eyes never left theirs.

Clutching her chest, Miya's eyes widened in horror as the pounding returned with a vengeance.

"What's wrong, Miya-san?" Kaho observed with a sly smirk, "Imagining yourself surrounded by golden haired little girls and boys?"

"NO!" Miya mouthed silently.

It wasn't that she couldn't imagine that scene at all, in fact, she found it almost too easy to do exactly that, which made it all the more horrifying.

Then the song ended and the spell the blond's song had cast on everyone ended. Time seemed to move again and the usual noises of a residential neighborhood seemed to flood back, bringing them back to reality as Miya immediately avoided Kaho's knowing gaze.

The day care center principal sniffed and wiped her tears while the children around the blond couldn't seem to stop staring at the strange uncle who would play with them unlike all the other adults and still sing so nicely.

"After 12 years, it finally sings again. I'll pay you any price you want for fixing it, Uuzmaki-san."

The blond waved her offer away with an audacious wink that caused her to blush, "It's alright. Brushing up an antique like this is a reward of its own. I'll bring it back by the end of this week."

Placing it back into its case with a rare gentleness, he hefted the bag up with him but not before giving all the children one last hair ruffle.

"You can play musical instruments?" Miya questioned quietly as the two of them sat on the bench.

"I had to find _something _to do didn't I?" Naruto retorted as he watched Kaho and Akitsu talk with some of the older girls on the grass. Every so often, the group would look back at him and giggle, "Besides, I think this thing might be older than I am." He declared humorously.

She made a non-committal noise and the silence between dragged on before she spoke again, "You seemed to know that lady very well."

Nope. That didn't sound accusing at all.

"Hrrrmm… I guess. She used to be one of the most popular girls in the area, still is really, but there are grey hairs in her head now, and wrinkles." He smiled mirthlessly, "Time really does pass when you don't notice doesn't it."

One eyebrow arched at his strange words, "Regretting it already?"

"What exactly?"

"A broken heart." She breathed out softly, "Watching us all grow old while you stay young and healthy."

The blond was silent again for a very long time.

"You can't break what wasn't whole in the first place. Not really."

"Oh…."

A tinkling sound broke the comfortable quiet they shared, and Naruto suddenly began digging around in his pocket. Frowning, he pulled out a vibrating cellphone, causing Miya's eyebrows to rise, "I thought you broke it already."

"I did…." The blond scowled thickly, "I don't know how this one got here…."

Flipping it open, he lifted it to his ear, "May I know who managed to pick my pocket while I wasn't paying attention?"

Over at the garden, Kaho and Akitsu looked up when they felt his discomfort. Quickly excusing themselves, the two beautiful women headed for their Master. At the silent urgings, he placed the call on speaker so they could hear who was on the other side of the call.

A cultured and silky voice sounded out from its speakers, "Ah, Uzumaki-san. You might not have heard of me before, but my name is Izumi Higa."

The blond grunted, "What do you want, Higa-san? That you would go so far as to gift me with a free phone?"

"It was a necessary expense." Izumi commented amusedly, "I heard you were a well-travelled person, so I thought your acquaintance would be worth the trouble."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the small talk, "I've been to a fair few places."

Hearing him agree, Izumi smirked, "Did you enjoy broadening your horizons? Paris perhaps? I've always found the nightly landscape to be an enchanting picture."

"Once." Naruto admitted.

"Oh? When?" Izumi inquired politely, "I might even have met you."

"I'm not sure. I didn't stay very long either way. The local customs weren't very attractive at the time."

"What do you mean?" He said in a completely shocked voice, "How could Paris NOT be attractive?"

"They tried to shove some glowing rocks up my behind. Said it was popular AND it would increase my libido. Now I wasn't a very scientific person at the time, but I was fairly sure that sticking a piece of an eternal atomic sun into my asshole would definitely do _something_. Just _not _increase my libido, so I offered to break his ass with some dynamite and a shovel if he came anywhere mine with his nice glowing rock."

Izumi wasn't sure if the man was joking or not.

"I… see…"

"No. No you don't." Naruto replied with a smirk, "Here's a hint though; don't try to kiss my ass. I'm allergic to toadies and small talk so you might not like what comes out that end while you're licking it."

"You are an annoyingly blunt person, Uzumaki-san. Very well, I will do as you wish. I know that you are an exceptional Ashikabi, but are you aware that the Second stage of the Sekirei Plan has started?"

"You could say so."

"That is why I want to hire you and your Sekirei's services, Uzumaki-san."

"Why?" The blond asked dryly, "Finally gave up on trying to dig up dirt on me?"

"…..I will not ask why you are aware of that, but I assure you that you will be compensated accordingly."

"I have enough money, Higa-san. Enough that I don't want your entire empire even if you offered it to me." The scarred blond grinned, his eyes flicking towards Miya, Kaho and Akitsu's worried expressions, "So you might want to up the ante and offer me something better."

"What about half of MBI? Think about it, with all the secrets they are hiding, the technology they have fostered. With all of that at the tips of your fingers, there is nothing you cannot achieve."

"I can tell you now, Higa-san, even if you investigate their race down to the very last genome, even if you take apart their ship, even if you travel to the ends of the universe, you won't find what you are looking for. **THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A CURE TO BEING A PERVERT**! **ECCHI BANZAI**!"

"DON'T SAY SOMETHING LIKE WITH SO MUCH PRIDE, BAKA-ASHIKABI!"

On the other side of line, Higa Izumi winced as he heard three rapid smacks of flesh against flesh and a long pause before Uzumaki-san spoke again with his usual composure.

"Ah, I seem to be having some problems with blurting out my thoughts at the most random times, and my cute little Sekirei got embarrassed since we're at a day care center."

Off to the side, Miya sighed and rubbed her temples as she mumbled under her breath, "No wonder you're immortal. You're so stupid you wouldn't know how to die if someone killed you."

"Is there anything I could offer you to persuade you to join me then?"

"Not really."

"Maybe a rare antique since you seem to like them so much, like the first porn movie ever made."

Naruto went silent while they stared at him.

Money couldn't move him, material wealth couldn't move him, knowledge couldn't move him, but he was hesitating for an erotic film?

"Don't you dare agree with him," Kaho hissed, "Don't you have any pride in yourself?"

"A person like me who has no need for pride! LET ME HAVE THAT MOVIE!"

"Ah. It's showing."

"His real colors are totally showing."

There was another smack.

"I mean, no. I do not need the world's first porn movie." Naruto said in an utterly flat monotone, "So I'm afraid that we have nothing left to talk about."

Izumi sighed on the other end of the connection, "I'm afraid that you don't understand what you have done, Uzumaki-san. By rejecting me, I can no longer promise you or your Sekirei's safety."

"Trust me, if you try anything on them, you might as well just bend over and clean out your anus right now."

The man laughed ingratiatingly, not a hint of the anger he was feeling showed in his voice, "And how do you plan to do that when you can barely protect yourself?"

A loud laugh was his answer, "I have a long arm, Higa-san. Make no mistake, you might not see it, but I have a **VERY **long arm."

"This conversation is over." Izumi said frostily as he ended the call.

Naruto glanced at the sleek phone in his hands and shrugged. Closing it calmly, he casually dropped into the pocket of a passerby, much to the three Sekirei's confusion.

Clapping his hands as if to clean the dust from it, he yawned indifferently, "Shall we leave? It's getting late anyway."

The three of them glanced at each other and sighed at the hopeless Ashikabi.

He was probably the only person in existence that would treat a serious threat like that like it was nothing but hot air, "I wonder what's for dinner tonight."

"Ah…." Akitsu who was anxious to try out the new confirm win technique that her new friends had taught her spoke up, "Master, I would like to learn how to cook…."

"Hmm? Sure, why not."

"Would you me to wear a naked apron while I learn to cook, Master?" Akitsu inquired coolly.

Naruto spluttered, "That's wrong!"

Miya sighed in relief, at least the blond still had some sanity left in his…..

"**IF YOU'RE GOING TO WEAR APRONS, IT MUST BE FRILLED APRONS!"**

Never mind.

"I don't believe I want to hear the rest of this conversation." The purple haired landlady muttered as she kept her hands on Kusano's ears.

"What's up with her?" The blond wondered as she left with a huff.

On their way home, the five of them coincidentally bumped into Minato and Musubi who were just coming back from his part time job.

Letting go of Naruto's hand, the small blond girl squealed happily and hurtled into Minato's hug, "Onii-chan! Tadaima!"

The timid boy chuckled warmly as he hugged the small warm body tightly, "Ku-chan. Did you enjoy your day?"

"Unn! I met a lot of girls and made friends!"

Ruffling her hair affectionately, Minato looked up, "Ah, Naruto-san, do you mind if I have a moment? There's something I need to speak with you about."

He tried to discretely jerk his head at Musubi and Miya to signal the blond that it had something to do with the Sekirei Plan.

"Ahh… of course. I was just accompanying Miya-san to the market anyway, she was on her way to buy a birthday cake."

Miya blinked, "I was?" she blinked again, "Ah... I mean yes. I was."

She nudged him and whispered, "Whose is it?"

"Yours."

"Mine?"

"Yep. Don't forget the candles. 25 of them."

Her eyebrow twitched, "I-Isn't the number of candles a little off?"

"Oh, you're right." There was a slight pause then Naruto, sounding far too gleeful for his own good added, "We need at least 10 more candles."

Miya smiled sweetly at the blond's ribbing, "Ku-chan, remind me to break Naruto-jii chan's arms as soon as we get home."

"Hai!"

"What in the world are you teaching children?" the blonde spluttered with aghast.

"Necessary skills to be a woman." Miya countered in a clipped tone as she picked Kusano up, already understanding that Minato wanted to talk to Naruto about the Sekirei Plan while she was supposed to be the unknowing landlady.

Puffing up her cheeks adorably, she left in a huff.

Again.

"What's wrong with her?"

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play Chiaki Ishikawa - Prototype**

"Musubi, catch!" A cream puff flew through the air before Musubi leapt six feet into the air and caught it between her teeth. Grinning happily she landed and spun around three times, "Woof, woof, woof!" Before devouring the puffs that she had missed so much.

Naruto-san made really nice puffs but Miya-san and Kaho-nee san always scolded her when she wanted some.

Minato sweat dropped, he would have been upset at the way Musubi was being treated if not for the fact that the brown haired girl obviously loved playing this _game _with the older man, it also alleviated some of the guilt he felt at not being able to properly take care of Musubi due to his work.

Winding back another puff, Naruto threw the next one as far as he safely could with a grin as Musubi scarpered after it with a delightful laugh, "We probably have some time before Musubi makes it back. What did you want to talk about?"

The brown haired boy leaned back onto the bench with a worried expression, "You heard about the Second stage didn't you? They're going to close the city and no one is allowed in or out."

The taller man was silent as he leaned against a tree, lighting his pipe, "What about it? It just one nut job arbitrarily closing down the city."

"I still don't really understand the reason for this Tournament thing, but I understood that Musubi wanted to fight. But Kaho-san and AKitsu-san don't seem to want to fight, aren't you afraid of losing them?"

"Oh, wasn't this what you wanted to talk about that day?" Naruto inquired with a puff of smoke. When Minato nodded, the blonde continued, "I don't understand, exactly what are you so scared about?"

"Of losing Musubi, Matsu and Kusano." He answered simply, "If I could fight in their place… I'd do it in a heartbeat but…"

"Then take the three of them and run away. Far away from this pointless fight, live with them. Grow old, have a family." Naruto tapped his pipe gently, knocking out some ashes, "It's not like it's too hard, not with Matsu with you. Of course, I'm not entirely sure if running away counts since that crazy Minaka guy might tell those who still want to participate in the Plan that they have to hunt you down to get that wish."

"But don't you see? I can't!"

"Why?"

"I…. I have my exams here!"

"Is that worth losing your girls over? Are you really that much of an idiot?" The blond's words seemed to seep in his consciousness like a malicious toxin, "Saying that you don't want to fight while you stay in the middle of a battlefield? In fact, I'm already aware that you're not originally from ShinTokyo, so I'm sure you have somewhere to go run for help. Musubi can be persuaded pretty easily and I'm sure Ku-chan doesn't care either way plus Matsu is already on the run from them anyway. I can help you leave you know. Keep Musubi, Kusano and Matsu safe."

"That's right," Musubi piped up, "Minato-sama is too nice!"

The scarred and grizzly blonde frowned, "Nice won't stop wars. Nice didn't help feed you when you and Minato-san were thrown out of your former residence, luck did. Being nice just means that you're giving permission to all and sundry to freely walk all over you without consequences."

He breathed deeply to calm his agitation, "The only reason why being nice **MIGHT **work, is either because a) the people you are dealing with have a conscience and are capable of feeling bad about draining your blood dry when you give them the wet puppy eye stare or b) complete idiot-"

"Go!" a figure wielding a large blunt weapon burst out of the undergrowth and headed straight for Musubi in what the blonde figured was meant to be a surprise attack.

All it did was annoy him even more.

Stopping the heavy hammer with one hand, he frowned at the almost tiny girl in the white thigh length gown on the other end and her not so happy Ashikabi, "Do you **NOT **know how rude it is to interrupt someone while their talking?" he spun around and kicked her directly in the abdomen lightly, sending her skidding backwards with a look of shock on her face as she doubled over at the pain in her tummy.

Another figure who had been hiding in the shadows slowly made his entrance, "Yashima, you stupid bitch! I thought you said only the girls were Sekirei!?"

"I-I did… This man doesn't feel like a Sekirei… I-I didn't even realize he was there." The girl protested timidly.

The nondescript man in the red beanie scoffed at the downtrodden woman and slapped her, "Then you're obviously wrong, not like that's any different from usual. I figured that the more you take out now, the less we have to fight afterwards but you end up like this even after only one kick," Mercilessly he kicked the downed girl repeatedly, "Honestly, why did I have to end up with a useless Sekirei like you?"

"Stop that! Can't you see that she's in pain!?" Minato yelled angrily as he brushed past a solemn Naruto, "How can someone like you be an Ashikabi!?"

"Ha? Are you an idiot? That's what these sluts are made for isn't it?" With a lewd grin, he bent down and squeezed her breasts, "Just look at her. She can't cook, she doesn't know how to work, she has no common sense; all she has is that stupidly huge hammer, the MBI card and her body." He shot Minato a cruel smile as his hand drifted towards Yashima's lips and entered her mouth, "So what are you going to do? Take her from me? Can you really do something like that, when I'm her one Ashikabi when all that will do is reduce her to a street prostitute?"

While the two of them had been talking, Naruto simply relaxed against a tree, and lit his pipe with a casual flick of the wrist as he signalled to Kagari not to interfere, his eyes set squarely on a hesitating Minato, "Th-that still doesn't make it right! It's your responsibility to take care of her as her Ashikabi isn't it!?"

"If you ask me, she should be the one doing me a favour for taking her in. I mean, I'm already pretty nice, you should see what some of the others are doing." The man commented lightly before capturing an unresisting Yashima's lips. Heat surged through her body at the contact as wide transparent wings of light materialized from her back.

"Hmph, maybe now you might be able to at least take one of them out before we run."

Yashima nodded with her head lowered as her wings dissipated and picked up her hammer again, "Hammer of my pledge, shatter my A-Ashikabi's misfortune!" Yashima gasped out through her heavy breathing as she took a few shaky steps forward before bursting forward towards the biggest threat in the area, far faster than she could before with her hammer held high, "Gravity HAMMER!"

Naruto only sighed as he stopped the glowing hammer cold with one palm, the ground under his feet cracking under her power. His other fist swung out before stopping just short of her nose, but the sheer force behind the punch still managed to cause her short brown hair to stream out behind her utterly shocked eyes.

"Are you sure you really want to fight me, Ojou-chan? Explaining why there are body parts all over the park is a little annoying." Naruto kindly commented as Yashima weakly slid to her knees as the strength somehow seeped from her bones. Behind her, her Ashikabi had been completely blown away by the force of the blonde's fist until he hit a wall imprinted the shape of a massive fist amidst flattened trees.

"Ha-Hauu….. I'm go-going to be abandoned..."The pale haired girl began sobbing quietly until someone wiped her tears away gently.

"If he abandons you, then why don't you come with me?" The blonde asked lightly as he flung the hammer away easily, "You won't have an Ashikabi with you, but people who will love you and take care of you will be there."

"He-Eh? Bu-but….. He's my Ashikabi…" Yashima, more stunned than anything stared helplessly at the man.

"Which would you prefer? Living a loveless life with your Ashikabi, being cursed and punished for your so called weakness, or being loved and spending time with people who care for you?"

Her thoughts were jumbled up, her desires warring against her conditioning but slowly, very slowly, she reached out for the offered hand.

Naruto gently squeezed the small hand in his, "Very well. Welcome to the-"

The dirty and unshaven man leapt at the blonde man, having taken the chance to creep up on the blonde and his Sekirei with a knife, "That's right Yashima, keep him occupied. Yaargh!"

Naruto frowned and caught the tip of the penknife with two fingers. The tiny blade instantly began melting in front of the rogue Ashikabi's very scared eyes.

"Now what did I say about interrupting other people's conversation?" The blond said coldly.

His temper already somewhat frayed, he swept his legs out from under him before backhanding him into the ground. Scoffing a little, he stepped on the man's knee to stop him from escaping, "This is the leg that kicked Yashima-chan isn't it?"

A cold, grim leer decorated his face as the pressure increased, "You won't be needing this anymore."

**[Krrack!]**

"**GUUUUUAH, MY LEG!" **

Filled with horror, the pale brown haired Sekirei dashed to her Ashikabi's side as he desperately tried to crawl away, clutching at the bleeding stump that used to be his left leg, "Ju-juunichi-sama!" she looked up at the blonde desperately, "I-I already said I'd go with you, pl-please spare him!"

"Tha-that's it Yashima, you can stay with this monster, just LET ME GO!" the man in the beanie sobbed as he painfully crawled away from the blonde monster.

"You see Yashima, he'd rather sacrifice you even after everything you've done for him." Naruto calmly noted, "Now move away, I'm just going _discourage_ him from trying to ever find you again. Maybe he'll start thinking about people other than himself once he learns that he can't feed himself anymore."

"Wai-Wait, Uzumaki-san!" Minato who had been stunned stupid for the entire encounter after seeing the blonde man's strength finally spoke up, "He-He's already hurt enough, just let him go!"

"Oh? I didn't know that you condoned rape and abuse, Minato. I thought you were better than that."

Minato hesitated again at the coldly calm blonde man, a stark contrast to the warm, prankster of Izumo Inn, "I don't!"

"Then why are you interfering? You were angry that he treated Yashima badly. So I stopped him. Now you want to let him go? What exactly do you want?"

"I-I'm just saying that we should hand him to the police instead of doing this! It's not right! Attacking someone like this is wrong!"

A frown broke the cold mask, "Hand him to the police? And what do you think will happen then? You know as well as I do that they willfully ignore anything to do with the Sekirei Plan. At best, they'll give him treatment and let him go, if not because of orders from above, then because they consider Sekirei as nothing more than subhuman creatures. It's pretty obvious what will happen then isn't it? This boy hasn't repented; all that's going to happen is that he finds another Sekirei to take his frustrations out on." Naruto explained in a simple matter of fact tone.

"I… I… argggh!" Minato grabbed his head, thoroughly confused by everything, "You've already warned him alright!? His learnt his lesson, he won't do it again!"

"It's not the severity of a punishment that deters crime, boy. It's the certainty that he will be punished." The man chuckled lowly, "In a perfect world, he would have certainly learnt his lesson and left it at that, but we're not in a perfect world now are we?"

Seeing the boy's hopeless expression, Naruto sighed and relented, "Well… I guess since we're housemates and all that, I could give you a chance…."

"Eh? Wh-what do you mean?" Minato looked up hopefully.

"It means that I'm going to let you choose." the intensely cold expression returned with a vengeance as the scarred blonde lifted his hands, one pointed at him and another pointed at the man called Juunichi.

"You were scared of watching Musubi fight weren't you? So here are your choices."

He snapped his fingers.

A group icy spears were immediately launched at the stunned Musubi, spearing her through her clothes and trapping her in a cage of sharp icicles that cut deeply if she moved even an inch. Behind Naruto, a naginata scythed through the air and stabbed into Junichi's palm, staking him to the ground.

"**AAAAAAAAARGGHHHH!"**

This, combined with the chilly way the blonde stared at him was far worse than anything he had seen from Miya, if only because right then and there, Minato knew that Naruto meant every word he said, "**Swear to never see Musubi again, abandon her, and I'll let this piece of trash go**."

"Wh- I can't choose something like THAT!" the dark haired boy yelled out angrily.

"Really?" Naruto calmly asked with a questioning cock of the head, "Should I assume that means that you choose Musubi over them?"

Kaho, resolutely ignoring Musubi's cries as Akitsu pricked her neck with a shard of sharp ice, while she slowly dragged her naginata up his arm, cutting in half until it was stuck in the boy's shoulder. Clinically, she didn't think the boy would survive much longer with how much blood he was losing, even his begging was barely a whisper now, but the all-consuming fury and disgust Naruto had for these two Ashikabi surged through the connection she had with him, overwhelming even her own reasoning.

"Pl-please… no more!"

Naruto had often commented about how their emotions affected him, but none of them had expected for the connection to work in reverse as well.

They weren't three separate people anymore.

There was only one.

"Musubi!" Minato tried to pull her out of the cage of ice, but simply touching the sharp edges of the icy spires cut his hands badly.

"I'm al-alright, Minato-sa…" Akitsu stonily pushed the shard in a little deeper, silently telling her to be quiet, "Kyaaah!"

Minato dropped to his knees, Musubi's cries of pain ringing in his ears, not knowing what to choose, "Uzumaki-san! Stop! Please stop, I beg you!" He just couldn't choose to abandon Musubi, but at the same time he couldn't let Naruto maim the Ashikabi, even IF the man had just been trying to kill Musubi minutes ago.

Naruto observed the boy for a moment before speaking in a chillingly factual tone, "You're a very nice person Minato, there's nothing wrong about wishing for a world where everyone is happy but you don't seem to understand the way this world works, or maybe you're just too nice. Reality doesn't give a damn when the only distinguishing feature you have is being nice."

The blond's tone was frosty as he slowly closed his fists as if strangling the bleeding and torn Ashikabi, "I could be polite and say that the effort you put in is all that matters but potential will always remain just that, potential, if you don't actually USE it. Without strength, being kind just means that you are weak. Now will you let your insecurities stop you from choosing?"

The lightning sparked louder and louder and Naruto raised his voice to match, **"Will you sit there and watch as you lose everything again because you were scared or WILL YOU ANSWER?"**

Gravel crunched under Minato's clenched fist as he slowly got up, "I choose…."

******Unwavering Sky******

**Play ****Jia Peng Fang – Silent Moon**

Humming a gentle tune to herself, Miya absent-mindedly held Kusano with one hand while the other carried a medium sized cake that would be enough for their little… family.

"Ah, Miya-chan!" the meat shop's boss called out to the passing landlady with a knowing grin.

Bowing polite, Miya greeted the cheerfully plump woman, "Good evening to you as well, Nakai-san. How was your day?"

"Business was usual," Her beady eyes glinted at the little blond girl hiding behind Miya's skirt, "I see you're here with your… adopted daughter. Where is the father?"

"Unfortunately, we are not related in the way you think," Miya retorted icily, "Nor are we in a relationship."

Nakai made an unsatisfied sound, "You're no fun, Miya-chan. Always so stiff and formal, aren't you even a little bit bored of living by yourself? All those admirers and suitors… wasted…"

Sighing, the purple haired landlady sent her friend a knowing look, "I can handle myself just fine, Nakai-san."

"But having a strong man around the house would help a lot would it?" the curly haired butcher said with a grin, "By the way, where is the lucky man?"

"He had something to do." Miya answered with a vague wave of the hand.

"Really? I saw him here this morning though."

Miya blinked, "This morning?"

"Yep. He was going around the shopping street and buying up all the rice and sundry items." The short and stumpy woman made a disgusted sound, "The sundry store couple was crowing about it all morning, but he didn't buy any meat. Said it couldn't last."

"What time exactly did you see him?"

Stumbling back a little at the intense look on Miya's face, Nakai stuttered, "About 9 in the morning. Right after we usually open."

Miya bowed again, "Thank you for letting me know, Nakai-san."

As the purple haired landlady hurried home, her mind was consumed by thoughts of how the blond could possibly be in two places at the same time since she had been standing right NEXT to him while they were at the day care center.

"Ku-chan, why don't you go and play with Mi-chan while I put this cake into the freezer." Gently giving the small girl an encouraging push, Miya leaned against the fridge as she finally had some time to herself.

….. While she didn't want to believe it, it was beginning to look like the enigmatic blond could somehow separate himself. It was either that, or he could control time, and Miya wasn't ready to believe THAT yet. Even clones were a more digestible alternative.

"Miya-nee san!"

Purple eyes looked up at the sound of feet pattering back into the kitchen, "I found Mii-chan playing with this in Naruto-jii chan's room!"

Holding up a scroll proudly for Miya to see, the little girl dropped it in her palm before she pattered off again.

Unfurling the strange scroll filled a flowing script, her breath hitched.

On it was a list of Sekireis and a general description of their physical traits as well as abilities.

Wide eyes ran through the list and a few names seemed to jump out at her since they had extra notes attached to their personal details.

**Directly connected with self. **

007, Akitsu: Positive, affiliated. Battle capacity increased by 40%

087, Kaho: Positive, affiliated. Battle capacity increased by 50%

**Winged by unaffiliated persons. **

010, Uzume: Positive, Taken. Battle capacity increased by 35%

005, Mutsu: Neutral, Taken. Battle capacity reduced by 30%

004, Karasuba: Negative, Taken. Battle capacity reduced by 60%

**Unwinged **

005, Homura: Positive, Neutral. Battle capacity increased by 25%

002, Matsu: Neutral, Neutral (at time of experiment). Battle capacity reduced by 20%

009, Tsukiumi: Negative, Neutral. Battle capacity reduced by 40%

**Control Subject**

001, Miya. Inconclusive.

_**[All tests are conducted after initial period of hostility for independence purposes. Allied subjects seemed to experience magnified levels of gratitude or resentment as per treatment, while Subjects allied with outside influences are affected a little less. Neutral Subjects who are not allied with anybody else have the smallest emotional multiplier to external influence.**_

_**All subjects also show a greater reaction to negative treatment than to positive treatment. Ongoing experiment also notes possibility of unwinging an already winged subject without extreme added trauma to be less than 0.9%**_

_**Appendix; Experiment 001 has been compromised by emotions. Objective evaluation of Subject 001 is no longer possible. Results are inconclusive.]**_

The scroll dropped from her lifeless fingers.

He had never lied about treating Tsukiumi or Matsu as experiments but she had never considered the possibility that the experiment could be extended to include them as well.

Things immediately got worse as she heard the sound of the front door opening.

Hurrying to the reception hall, Miya let out a gasp as a blood soaked Musubi rushed in and laid an unconscious Minato on the couch with Kaho, Akitsu and Naruto following behind. Even though he had blood all over his clothes, the lanky boy seemed to be uninjured as Musubi fussed over him.

"What happened, Musubi?" a frazzled Miya immediately asked the sobbing girl.

Instead of answering her, the brown haired shrine maiden turned around and gave Naruto a questioning look, "Why did you do that, Naruto-sama? Why did you hurt Minato-sama?"

The fact that there was not a hint of accusation or anger in her eyes, only an honest confusion, made it all the more worse from Miya's perspective.

*******Unwavering Sky******

"Was that really necessary?" Miya questioned with a calm that she did not feel one she had got the frantic Musubi to calm down enough to explain everything that had happened.

Outside, she was the same, calm and graceful pillar of Izumo, but inside she was a confused mess.

"It was to me, if he was going to suffer then it might as well be at my hands since he would not lose anything significant that way…" He replied with a calm sense, "Everything I said was common sense and simple logic…. but…"

"But?" she gently urged the taller man.

"Common sense said that ninjas have to be warriors of the shadow; stealthy, rational and coldly calculating instead of attention seeking hot headed knuckle heads. Common sense said that optimism cannot outweigh an army. Common sense dictates that light will triumph over dark, common sense is knowing to give up when there's a less than 1% chance of succeeding…. Common sense also says that I should be dead a billion times over by now."

He grimaced tiredly, "Sometimes, all you need to win a war is a moron and sometimes a sincerely kind gesture can take you further than any amount of self-sacrifice but when I saw him so innocent… I just got so upset."

"I see…."

The blond didn't say anything.

"One of the most important rules that Takehito set was that we would not accept any fighting between housemates. It doesn't matter if it occurred here or outside, but it happened."

She drew a deep breath and steadied herself.

"Uzumaki-san, I'm going to have to ask you to leave Izumo Inn. You have one day to pack everything."

The scarred blond said nothing, merely bowing politely at Miya's curt orders.

It wasn't his house any longer after all, and while he was in her home, he would follow her rules.

Besides, it fit within his plans after all, there was no point in spending resources to hold a losing base when you could transfer to a more strategic one.

******Unwavering Sky******

That night, Miya found herself struggling to fall asleep.

God knew how many hours had passed before she finally fell in to a fitful slumber.

Which was why, when she heard the voice of a woman echoing in the darkness, Miya immediately shot up right and reached for her Katana, but her fingers grasped uselessly in the void.

Blowing out her frustrations with a sigh, she reined in her curiosity with an iron will and began systematically inspecting the dark void she seemed to be floating in until she heard the voice again.

If she didn't know any better, she would have said she was talking to herself.

But the woman who had suddenly appeared in front of Miya didn't look anything LIKE her, even though they sounded exactly the same.

"Who are you?" Miya demanded warily, "And why do you sound like me?"

"Shouldn't you introduce somebody before you asked for their name?" The exceptionally beautiful woman lounging on an invisible couch that seemed to hang in mid air replied with an impudent smirk.

"Asama." The purple haired woman replied with dignified posture, "Asama Miya. Now what is your name?"

"Hmmmm…. How interesting."

"What is?" She was getting a little annoyed by the strange woman's roundabout way of speaking. It reminded her quite harshly of a certain blond, and she was not in the mood for that.

"Did you know? Names contain a lot of power. With your name, I could even extract your soul." She paused, "Not at the moment of course. As for why I sound like you…. Who knows…." The lounging woman drawled out lazily, "But I **can **tell you that that was the same question that a certain blond asked himself when he first met you. In fact, he was so surprised that you managed to hit him and then knock him out when by all rights he could have dodged it."

"Who are you?" Miya demanded again. The woman smirked.

"Yuuko. Ichihara Yuuko."

******Unwavering Sky******

**End Chapter 12 **


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